Election 2010: West Virginia Senate Special Election

Republican John Raese has now opened up a seven-point lead over West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin in perhaps the most improbably close U.S. Senate contest in the country. It’s Raese’s biggest lead yet. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely West Virginia Voters finds Raese with 50% support to Manchin’s 43%. Two percent (2%) like some other candidate in the race, and five percent (5%) are undecided. The West Virginia race now shifts back from a Toss-Up to Leans Republican in theRasmussen Reports Election 2010 Senate Balance of Power rankings. Yet 69% of the state’s voters approve of the job Manchin is doing as governor, and he remains more popular overall than his GOP opponent. A big problem for Manchin, however, is that only 30% of West Virginia voters approve of how President Obama is doing his job, while 69% disapprove, well below the president’s job approval ratings nationally in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll. Support for repeal of the new health care law in West Virginia is the highest in the nation. (Want a free daily e-mail update? If it’s in the news, it’s in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook. The survey of 750 Likely Voters in West Virginia was conducted on October 19, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.