The poll of 539 voters taken by Emerson College earlier this month shows Republican Governor Jim Justice with 41% support and Senator Manchin with 28%. 15% of those surveyed said they would support someone else, and 16% were undecided.
The West Virginia Senate race is one of a handful of upcoming matchups Republicans hope to flip in their favor.
"Joe Manchin is a great example of a senator who claims to be a Democrat and in fact acts like a Republican, but then always votes for the Democrats," notes Sandy Rios, director of governmental affairs at the American Family Association. "He's very clever, but I think the people of West Virginia have probably had enough of that, and they've finally figured out he is not looking after their interests; he's looking after his own."
Though Gov. Justice has a substantial lead over Manchin, he must first defeat Republican Congressman Alex Mooney in the GOP Senate primary.
According to the Emerson survey, Sen. Manchin leads Rep. Mooney in a hypothetical match-up, 37% to 31%, with 13% supporting someone else and 18% undecided.
Editor's Note: The American Family Association is the parent organization of the American Family News Network, which operates AFN.net.
