Some early poll numbers out for U.S. Senate race

The results of a voter opinion poll from Mark Blankenship Enterprises show Third District Congressman Nick Rahall would have a lot of support if he decides to run for the U.S. Senate next year.

“It’s early at this stage in the game, but I would say that, in a Democratic primary field with multiple candidates, there’s Nick Rahall and then there’s everybody else,” Pollster Mark Blankenship said.

No Democrat candidate, including Congressman Rahall, has yet announced plans to run for the U.S. Senate in 2014.

However, when questioned in a recent telephone survey, 37% of Democrat primary voters said they would vote for Congressman Rahall in a hypothetical race against Supreme Court Justice Robin Davis at 16%, former U.S. Senator Carte Goodwin at 6% and Attorney Ralph Baxter at 2%.

Second District Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican, is running for the U.S. Senate.  She announced her campaign plans before longtime U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller said, in January, he would not be running for reelection.

Blankenship says Congresswoman Capito has statewide support.

“She has this uncanny ability to appeal to voters in the First Congressional District and the Third Congressional District,” Blankenship said on Monday’s MetroNews Talkline.

In a possible head to head U.S. Senate race between Capito and Rahall, the survey shows 55% of voters would support Congresswoman Capito, while 37% would back Congressman Rahall.  About 9% are undecided.

The survey says, overall, Congresswoman Capito has a 64% job approval rating.  About 70% of West Virginia voters approve of the job U.S. Senator Joe Manchin is doing.  The MBE numbers show Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has a 69% job approval rating.

In contrast, President Barack Obama’s job approval rating in West Virginia is at 43%.

About 56% of those questioned said U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller and U.S. Senator Joe Manchin should vote against President Obama’s gun control proposals.

Blankenship says they found gun owners in more than three out of every five homes in West Virginia.

“There’s a huge gun ownership in the state of West Virginia and it’s unsurprising to me that a majority of those folks, or an overwhelmingly of those folks, would oppose any kind of new gun control measures,” he said.

On energy, 55% said they oppose President Obama’s proposals to increase taxes on energy companies based in the United States.

Mark Blankenship Enterprise conducted the survey of 600 West Virginians for Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.