Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin is polling behind Republican Gov. Jim Justice in the race to represent West Virgina in the Senate, according to a new poll by Emerson College.
The Democratic incumbent senator has just 28% support in the 2024 race, compared to 41% support for Justice in the general election, according to the poll released Friday.
The poll also shows 15% saying they will vote for someone else and 16% saying they are undecided.
While Manchin trails Justice, he is slightly ahead of Republican Rep. Alex Mooney 37% to 31%, according to the poll.
Mooney announced his bid for Manchin's seat in November, just a week after winning reelection to the House.
"I think I'll defeat him," Mooney said at the time. "Obviously, he's been around for a long time, met a lot of people, has a lot of money."
Justice announced his candidacy for the seat in April on his 72nd birthday.
"I absolutely will promise you to God above that I will do the job, and I will do the job that will make you proud," Justice told a crowd to a standing ovation at a posh resort he owns in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
In April, Mooney already was attacking Justice's record for the GOP primary fight, and Manchin was saying he intends to win reeelection.
"I am laser focused on doing the job West Virginians elected me to do — lowering health care costs, protecting Social Security and Medicare, shoring up American energy security, and getting our fiscal house in order," Manchin said. "But make no mistake, I will win any race I enter."
The Emerson poll has Justice with a 50% job approval rating, compared to 71% who give Democratic President Joe Biden a failing grade for his first term in office.
The governor also has a 34% job approval from Democrats in the state and a 35% approval from independents, according to the Emerson poll.
Former Republican President Donald Trump leads Biden in the state 59% to 23%. And 51% of West Virginia voters said they think Biden stole the 2020 election compared to 35% who think he won fairly, according to the polling.
The poll was conducted Oct. 1-4 with 539 West Virginia voters and has a margin of error of +/- 4.2%.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Charles Kim ✉
Charles Kim, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years in reporting on news and politics.
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