Governor Jim Justice is expected to announce soon that he is running for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in 2024, and a new poll indicates Justice will enter the race with a big lead.
The poll of likely Republican and Independent primary voters shows Justice at 55 percent, versus Congressman and declared Senate candidate Alex Mooney at 24 percent, with 21 percent undecided.
The poll was conducted by National Public Affairs, a firm that does polling for Republicans and is run by three former Trump campaign advisors. Firm partner Justin Clark said his agency paid for the poll.
Justice’s numbers come down if Patrick Morrisey is in the Senate race—43 percent for Justice, 21 percent for Morrisey, 10 percent for Mooney—but the Attorney General is announcing today that he is running for the Republican nomination for Governor.
The poll shows Justice’s support crosses all demographics, creating a broad base. “This data cements his potential to unite the Republican coalition and draw in Independent voters in the 2024 general election scenario,” NPA reported.
Justice will begin his campaign with enviable popularity numbers. A whopping 77 percent of Republicans and Independents have a favorable view of Justice, while only 17 percent view him unfavorably. Mooney’s favorables are at 47 percent, while his unfavorables are at 21 percent.
Thirty-three percent of those polled have no opinion about Mooney. That leaves him with some room to grow. However, Justice has almost 100 percent name recognition, which means the public perception of him, which is mostly positive, is already baked in.
Justice is also the choice of the Senate Republican establishment. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is personally lobbying Justice to run, apparently believing Justice has the best chance of beating Democrat incumbent Joe Manchin. Manchin has not yet said whether he is running for re-election.
There is also the Trump factor. The former president endorsed Mooney in 2022 and that helped him defeat Representative David McKinley in the primary when the two incumbents were matched against each other after redistricting.
However, Justice has closer ties with the Trump family. He has hunted with Donald Trump Jr., and the former president was on stage with Justice in Huntington in 2017 when Justice switched to the Republican Party.
Trump may be under indictment, but his support is still coveted here.
Of course, any poll is just a snapshot in time. Candidates, the media and political junkies are tuned in to 2024, but how many likely voters have given it much thought? Justice and Mooney still have over a year to campaign and run ads that promote themselves, while attempting to raise doubts about their opponent.
Anything can happen. However, the poll does show Justice with a considerable tailwind as he prepares for his campaign to take off.