The national gun debate may or may not be having an effect on U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s job-approval rating among West Virginians.
A new poll from Mark Blankenship Enterprises shows more than three in five West Virginia voters, 63 percent, like the job Sen. Manchin is doing. It’s a high job-approval rating, but represents a 7 percent drop for the Democrat since March.
“We’ve seen him as high as 74 percent,” Mark Blankenship said during an appearance on MetroNews “Talkline” on Wednesday.
“So, while his numbers are still good, what was interesting to me is whether this is a momentary blip in his approval numbers or whether this is something that will be sustained or the beginning of a downward trend.”
Democratic consultant Mike Plante said he would ask the same about a possible declining approval rating trend for U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, of the Second District.
“If you’re going to compare Sen. Manchin’s job approval rating, let’s look at Shelley Moore Capito’s,” Plante said. The Congresswoman had a 64 percent job approval rating in a February MBE poll and has a 54 percent job approval rating in this latest poll.
Plante said there could be any number of reasons for that.
“Generally, Congressional approval ratings are down. The sequester may have something to do with it. The general gridlock in Washington may have something to do with it,” he said on MetroNews “Talkline.”
A total of 17 percent of those questioned say they are unable to rate Capito’s performance. The Republican is running for U.S. Senate in 2014.
As of now, the MBE poll shows Manchin’s approval ratings are down 5 percent among Republican voters, 8 percent among Democratic voters and 10 percent among Independents.
“One of the reasons that Sen. Manchin has been able to exceed a 70 percent approval rating historically is because he’s got a significant approval rating among Republicans. Usually, it’s right around 60-62 percent and we’ve seen that take a hit,” Blankenship said.
Voters were asked if they support or oppose Sen. Manchin’s recent gun control proposal which includes extended background checks for gun buyers. A total of 67 percent said they support it, 30 percent oppose it and 3 percent indicate they don’t know.
In other survey results, Gov. Earl Tomblin still has the same 69 percent job-approval rating that he had in the March survey.
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has the approval of 38 percent of voters but almost half of those questioned (47 percent) said they could not rate what he has done since taking office in January.
The MBE poll includes the results of interviews of 406 West Virginia voters on May 1-2.