Pollster: W.Va. gov race ‘wide open’ without Manchin

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A national pollster calls the 2016 gubernatorial race in West Virginia “wide open” now that U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin is opting to stay out of it.

“This gets a lot more interesting with Senator Manchin now out of the equation,” said Brock McCleary, president of Harper Polling and a former polling director for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Earlier this month, Harper Polling released a poll that showed Manchin would easily win possible races for governor against 1st District Congressman David McKinley (R-W.Va.), Senate President Bill Cole (R-Mercer, 06) and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.

Though none of the three Republicans has announced a run for governor, all have solid favorability ratings: 40 percent for McKinley, 34 percent for Cole and 46 percent for Morrisey.

McKinley and Morrisey trailed Manchin in name recognition, but were more recognizable than two potential Democratic candidates—U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin and Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler (D-Marshall, 02).

At this point, only Kessler has filed pre-candidacy papers.

As for other potential candidates not identified in the poll, “Anybody who would be starting from zero would have a bit of a hill to climb to get to par with these five candidates, but plenty of time and plenty of money can go a long way,” McCleary said.

With a generic gubernatorial ballot, a generic Democrat has a narrow one-point lead over a generic Republican statewide, 43 percent to 42 percent.

A Republican leads in the Bluefield area, a Democrat in the Clarksburg area and the parties are tied in the Charleston area.

“Really voters are split on whether they would prefer to be represented by a Republican or a Democrat so what we see here is no party has real advantage,” McCleary said on Tuesday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”

“At least 25 percent (of voters) are undecided and even higher on some of them (the possible candidates). So it’s a reflection of where we are here in the early stages, but a lot of voters will tune in in the months and months ahead.”

In West Virginia, the primary election is scheduled for May 10, 2016.





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