WVMetroNews West Virginia Poll shows solid leads for Justice, Morrisey
August 31, 2024
With less than 66 days until the Nov. 5 general election, the latest polling shows a majority of registered voters support West Virginia’s Republican candidates for U.S. Senate and governor.
Rex Repass, the chief consultant for Research America, presented the results of the latest WVMetroNews West Virginia Poll Friday on the final day of the 88th West Virginia Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting and Business Summit at the historic Greenbrier Resort.
The poll, conducted Aug. 21 through Aug. 27, included 400 registered and likely voters from all 55 counties closely matching West Virginia’s Republican, Democratic, and unaffiliated voter registration. The poll’s margin of error is 4.9%.
According to the West Virginia Poll, Republican Gov. Jim Justice leads Democratic former Wheeling mayor Glenn Elliott 62% to 28%, with 5% preferring another candidate and 5% not sure.
“Governor Justice is not only popular, but he polls very well,” Repass said. “If you look at our research over the years since he has been governor, particularly since 2020, he’s also always in the 60-percentile range. And Glenn Elliott, the (former) mayor of Wheeling, is frankly just not well known.”
Despite numerous headlines in recent weeks detailing the business issues with Justice’s vast business empire, Justice received a 65% job approval rating with 27% disapproving and 9%. Justice also had a 57% favorable rating with respondents, with 32% of respondents having an unfavorable view of the two-term governor and 11% not sure. Elliott was the second least known among respondents, with a 27% favorable rating, a 17% unfavorable rating, and 57% not sure.
“West Virginians overwhelmingly support Governor Jim Justice for U.S. Senate,” said Roman Stauffer, campaign manager for Jim Justice for U.S. Senate. “He has a strong record of big accomplishments from the largest tax cut in state history, economic development and creating thousands of jobs across the state, record budget surpluses, a pro-life champion, and defender of our Second Amendment.”
The race for governor had a closer margin, but 49% of respondents said they would vote for Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, while 35% said they would vote for Democratic Huntington Mayor Steve Williams, with 5% preferring another candidate and 11% unsure.
“Patrick Morrisey has run very strong in three or four statewide campaigns, with 300,000-plus votes that he’s garnered over the number of years he’s run for Attorney General and when he ran for the U.S. Senate,” Repass said. “We have higher undecideds in this race…But the key there, as I mentioned, is people don’t know Elliott, and they don’t know Steve Williams.
“Moving into September of an election year, that’s tough,” Repass continued, referring to Elliott and Williams. “They have a strong challenge in front of them.”
Morrisey had a 41% favorable rating with respondents, with 35% having an unfavorable view of the three-term Attorney General and 25% were not sure. Williams – who is wrapping up his third term as Huntington’s Mayor – had the lowest name recognition of the political leaders included in the West Virginia Poll, with a 2 5% favorable rating, an 18% unfavorable rating, and 57% not sure.
“Patrick Morrisey has a huge lead even after having millions of dollars in negative advertising spent against him in the primary,” said Jai Chabria, senior strategist for the Morrisey campaign. “He is poised to win the election with an overwhelming result, and as the next governor, he will be able to fight the Washington D.C. Establishment to protect and create West Virginians’ jobs, increase the state’s educational attainment, make the West Virginia business community more competitive with our neighboring states and make lives better for all West Virginians.”
Former Republican President Donald Trump remains popular in West Virginia, with 61% of respondents saying they would vote for him, 34% saying they would vote for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, 4% preferring another candidate, and 2% not sure.
“There’s no question that Donald Trump is strong in West Virginia,” Repass said. “He’s always in the 60 percentile, plus as high as 68% in 2016 and 2020. He still has a strong lead in our poll.”
Story by Steven Allen Adams, News & Sentinel