According to new Republican poll, Gov. Jim Justice (R) has the best chance of defeating Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WVa.) in West Virginia’s upcoming Senate election in 2024. A potentially ominous piece of news for Democrats.
According to polling commissioned by the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), a super PAC affiliated with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Justice was the only GOP challenger listed who received more support than Manchin among likely registered voters polled.
The poll involved three hypothetical matchups between Manchin and several possible Republican challengers.
The Tarrance Group survey, originally published by Politico, found that 52 percent of probable registered voters favored Justice in the Senate race, while 42 percent supported Manchin and 5 percent were undecided.
In a hypothetical battle between Manchin and announced candidate Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WVa.), Mooney garnered 40% support, Manchin received 55% support, and 5% were uncertain.
In a hypothetical battle between Manchin and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R), Manchin garnered 52 percent support, while the Republican attorney general received 42 percent.
According to the polling report to SLF, Manchin’s approval and favorability ratings in the state were 39 percent and 44 percent, respectively.
According to the study, over half of Manchin’s own party’s voters disapproved of his job as a senator.
For his part, Justice recently revealed that he is very seriously considering a run for Manchin’s seat.
The survey comes as Manchin has not stated if he intends to compete for re-election in 2024.
West Virginia will be a major priority for Republicans in 2024.
The Tarrance Group poll was conducted from February 5 to 7, with 609 likely registered voters and an oversample of 100 likely Republican primary voters polled. The margin of error is +/- 4.1 percentage points.
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