The Jim Justice campaign just released a poll showing a large lead over Bill Cole.
I don’t know what to make of Justice. I have heard two of his campaign speeches and they are singularly devoid of any positions. What he is doing is working, so I can’t criticize him for that. He won the Democratic primary easily, so the voters are not complaining.
Labor is supporting him- he has rescued the Greenbriar Resort and some coal mines and has made then union facilities. After the Republicans took over the legislature in 2014 the first thing they did was to pass a right-to-work bill. Justice opposes that and did not take advantage of it.
My hope is that this will allow us to take the legislature back. We only need one seat to win the Senate. The House will be much harder but we are working on it. The WV Governor has no effective veto (a simple majority is enough to override) so Justice won’t be able to do much without it.
TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Global Strategy Group
DATE: August 8, 2016
RE: POLLING MEMO – WEST VIRGINIA 2016 GUBERNATORIAL RACE__________________________________________________________
Jim Justice has 10 point lead in race for Governor
In a telephone survey of likely 2016 General Election voters, Jim Justice leads Republican Bill Cole, 47% to 37% in the race for Governor. Just 15% of voters are undecided. These results are based on a live telephone survey of 419 likely General Election voters conducted by Global Strategy Group from August 1-3, 2016.
Global Strategy Group 8/1-3, 419 interviews
Jim Justice — 47%
Bill Cole — 37%
Undecided — 15%
ABOUT THIS POLL
The results of this statewide survey have a margin of error of +/-4.8%. Care has been taken to ensure the geographic and demographic divisions of the expected electorate are properly represented based on past voter turnout statistics.