CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A MetroNews West Virginia Poll shows Jim Justice with a seven-point lead over Booth Goodwin and a nine-point lead over Jeff Kessler in the race for the Democratic nomination for governor.
The poll of likely voters has the Greenbrier Resort owner with the support of 32 percent, former U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin has 25 percent and state Senator Jeff Kessler has 23 percent. Twenty-one percent are undecided.*
“As we approach the May 10 primary, Jim Justice has a slight lead over the Democratic field, but with no candidate receiving more than one-third of the support and 21 percent undecided, voters are clearly weighing their options,” said Rex Repass, CEO of Repass Research and director of the MetroNews West Virginia Poll.
“As owner of the Greenbrier, Justice has the benefit of high name recognition in the race for the Democratic Party nomination,” Repass added.
The MetroNews West Virginia Poll also shows Justice with a ten-point lead over state Senator Bill Cole, who is unopposed for the Republican nomination for Governor. Forty-nine percent of likely voters support Justice, while 39 percent back Cole and 12 percent are undecided.
A hypothetical matchup between Cole and Goodwin is a statistical dead heat with Cole at 44 percent, Goodwin at 43 percent and 14 percent not sure. Cole has a slightly larger lead over Kessler at 45 percent to 40 percent and 15 percent undecided, but that’s still within the margin of error.
“Even though Bill Cole is the Senate President, he is still relatively new to West Virginia politics and doesn’t have the name identification working for him that Justice has,” Repass said. “Justice also appears to be getting more crossover vote from conservatives and self-proclaimed moderates.”
This results edition of the MetroNews West Virginia Poll was tallied from interviews conducted between February 11-16, with a sample of 411 registered, likely voters in West Virginia. The poll has a margin of error of plus-minus 4.9 percentage points.
The MetroNews West Virginia Poll is a non-partisan survey of public opinion owned and conducted by the REPASS Firm. Repass is a custom survey research and statistical consulting firm based in Cincinnati, Ohio. with offices in Charleston, W.Va., and Arlington, Va.
*(Editor’s note: Poll numbers may not add up to exactly 100 percent because of rounding.)