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CHARLESTON -- A new poll released Friday shows Republican Gov. Jim Justice in a strong lead over the Democratic challenger, Kanawha County Commissioner Ben Salango.
The West Virginia Poll, sponsored by the West Virginia MetroNews radio network and conducted by Research America, shows Justice with a 19-point lead over Salango. The poll was conducted between Oct. 1 and Oct. 6 with 450 likely voters who participated either online or by telephone. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.6 percent
According to the poll, Justice, seeking a second term as a Republican after winning election in 2016 as a Democrat, led political newcomer Salango 53 percent to 34 percent. This was followed by Libertarian Party candidate Erika Kolenich with 5 percent, Mountain Party candidate Daniel Lutz Jr. with 2 percent, and 6 percent were undecided.
According to Rex Repass, president of Research America and the director of the West Virginia Poll since it first started in 1980, attributed the small number of undecided voters to Justice's high name recognition, Salango's lack of name identification and voters already knowing who they want to vote for.
"Gov. Justice has many advantages going into the November 3 general election," Repass said. "First, the Governor is well known and has high name recognition statewide, while his challenger, Ben Salango, is not as well known. The governor also has been visible to residents via statewide video news briefings since the start of COVID-19."
Poll participants also believe Justice will do a better job than Salango when it comes to managing the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy, and keeping schools open.
Of those polled, 48 percent said Justice would do a better job handling the pandemic compared to Salango at 28 percent and 24 percent unsure. On the economy, 52 percent trusted Justice compared to 27 percent for Salango and 21 percent unsure. When it came to reopening K-12 schools, 44 percent said Justice would do a better job, 29 percent said Salango would do better, and 27 percent were unsure.
The West Virginia Poll included a 50/50 split of men and women. When broken down by party, 40 percent identified as Republican, 35 percent identified as Democrat and 23 percent identified as independent. A majority of those polled, 40 percent, identified as conservative, with 31 percent identifying as moderate and 30 percent identifying as liberal.
The MetroNews West Virginia Poll is the third poll released this week by third-party groups. A poll released Wednesday by Strategies Unlimited for anti-Justice political action committee West Virginia First showed Justice leading Salango 46 percent to 40 percent. A poll released Tuesday by WMOV 1360 AM and Triton Polling and Research showed Justice leading Salango 48.4 percent to 37.6 percent.
"There are two other polls out this week that show Ben within striking distance of Jim Justice, so with three weeks left this is still a jump ball," said Kelsi Browning, a spokesperson for the Salango campaign. "The MetroNews poll shows we are gaining traction while the Governor's numbers are dropping. It's clear as voters start to pay attention, we are growing our momentum up to Nov. 3."
A request for comment from the Justice campaign was not returned.
(Adams can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)