Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe ripped a presidential poll showing his home state is too close to call between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, predicting the longtime Democratic stronghold will remain blue in November.

The poll released this week by Roanoke College showed that Ms. Harris leads Mr. Trump, 47% to 44%, well within the poll’s margin of error. 

“That was a Roanoke College poll, who has never had a poll that’s been correct in their life. When I ran for governor, they had me losing by 500 points, and I won the state,” he told The Washington Times at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

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Mr. McAuliffe said Roanoke College’s methodology was flawed because 51% of the poll was conducted outside heavily Democratic regions in the state, including Hampton Roads, Northern Virginia and Richmond.

The poll also found that when other candidates are added, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West and Libertarian Chase Oliver, Ms. Harris still maintains a 3-point lead, 45% to 42%. An earlier Roanoke College poll in May found that President Biden and Mr. Trump were virtually tied, suggesting the change atop the ticket did not enthuse Democrats in Virginia. 

The poll also found that Mr. Trump has a big lead over Ms. Harris among independent voters, 50% to 34%.

Mr. McAuliffe said Mr. Trump can’t win in Virginia because it has more military bases and more federal workers than any other state in the union. The former Democratic governor said service members are angry over Mr. Trump allegedly disparaged military veterans as “losers” and “suckers.” The former president has repeatedly denied making the comment. 

Mr. Trump is facing another backlash from veterans when he said last week that the country’s top civilian honor was “much better” than its top military honor because the service members who receive the latter are “in very bad shape” or “dead.” 

On top of that, Mr. McAuliffe said federal workers haven’t forgotten the 35-day government shutdown that lasted from 2018-2019 under Mr. Trump’s term. 

“[Republicans] will say, ‘Oh well, they’ll get paid anyway,’  but you know what? Tell that to a federal worker who has to make a rent payment or buy groceries,” he told The Times.

“So listen, let me say it’s a tight race because I want the Harris campaign to keep sending a lot of money to our state, and I’d like to keep it going, but it’s not going to be close. It’s not possible.”

Mr. Biden won Virginia by double digits in 2020, largely fueled by Democratic voters in the Washington suburbs, Richmond and the Hampton Roads area. Mr. Trump handily won the state’s rural regions.