According to a shocking new poll, being a moderate Democrat and a former governor in deep-red West Virginia are unlikely to propel Sen. Joe Manchin to victory if he decides to run for reelection next year.
Despite it being early in the election cycle, the poll shows Manchin trailing current Gov. Jim Justice, a former Democrat who switched to the Republican Party during the 2016 election cycle, much to the delight of then-GOP candidate Donald Trump, who went on to win the state handily in 2016 and 2020.
During the previous presidential election cycle, Trump won every single county in West Virginia.
The survey, just released by the Center for Survey Research at East Carolina University, reveals that Manchin trails Justice by a staggering 22 points.
“In a hypothetical 2024 U.S. Senate matchup in West Virginia, the latest ECU Poll shows Governor Jim Justice with a significant 22-point lead over incumbent Senator Joe Manchin, 54 percent to 32 percent, among registered voters in the state,” the survey said, adding that just 26 percent of voters in West Virginia approve of President Joe Biden, who Manchin is linked to by party.
Currently, only 51% of the state’s Democrats support him.
Manchin has been declining in the polls for months. In September, for instance, a report stated that Manchin’s popularity among moderate and even conservative voters in his home state had risen significantly over the previous 18 months, as he had repeatedly blocked Biden’s costly legislative agenda and that of his Democratic Party.
After reaching an agreement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) behind closed doors on anti-inflation legislation that multiple analyses have predicted will not lower prices, he lost all political capital.
“A new poll released Wednesday by Jackson County radio station WMOV 1360 AM and Oregon-based Triton Polling and Research found that U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin is vulnerable after his support for the Inflation Reduction Act,” the Parkersburg News and Sentinel reported at the time.
The publication added:
66.1 percent of the 762 respondents had an unfavorable opinion of Manchin, D-West Virginia, according to the survey. Only 26.3% of respondents held a favorable opinion of Manchin, while 3.8% were unsure and 3.6% had no opinion either way.
The WMOV/Triton survey was conducted from August 24-26 with a margin of error of 3.5%. The survey was conducted via interactive voice response (IVR) telephone technology.
The poll was conducted 24 days after President Joe Biden signed the $737 billion Inflation Reduction Act into law, after Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., negotiated the latest iteration of Biden’s $1.75 trillion Build Back Better social spending bill.
The measure to reduce inflation includes $437 billion in new spending on green energy, so-called “climate change mitigation,” and other leftist Democratic priorities, such as healthcare and medication price “reform.” The measure also includes $300 billion for the reduction of the enormous national debt, which has surpassed $31 trillion.
More on this story via Conservative Brief:
The law includes a new 15 percent minimum corporate revenue book tax on earnings reported to investors of $1 billion or more, as well as funding for some 87,000 new IRS employees, many of whom are likely to be agents conducting audits of taxpayers. CONTINUE READING…
