Poll: West Virginia voters would view Manchin negatively if he votes to convict Trump

A new poll commissioned by The Club for Growth PAC, a conservative advocacy group, shows that nearly half of West Virginia voters would view Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) more negatively if he votes to remove President Trump from office.

The survey shows that Manchin, who won election to a third term in 2018, could face strong political blowback if he votes to convict Trump on one or two articles of impeachment passed by the Democratic-controlled House.

The survey of 500 likely voters in West Virginia found that 48 percent would have a less favorable view of Manchin if he votes to convict Trump while only 20 percent would have a more favorable view.

Thirty-two percent of likely voters said Manchin’s vote would make “no difference” to their view of him.

The poll generally shows overwhelming opposition to removing Trump from office. Nearly 7 in 10 — 69 percent — West Virginia voters surveyed said they oppose doing so while only 27 percent voiced support.

Overall, 67 percent of respondents approve of the job Trump is doing, while 31 percent don’t approve and 2 percent had no opinion.

Trump, who won West Virginia in the 2016 presidential election by 42 points, beats two of the top 2020 Democratic candidates handily in hypothetical matchups. The president leads former Vice President Joe Biden 66 percent to 31 percent and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) 66 percent to 29 percent in hypothetical matchups in the Mountain State.

The poll also found a plurality of voters would view Manchin more favorably if he changed his party affiliation to Republican.

Forty-three percent of voters said they would view Manchin more favorably if he were a Republican while 27 percent said they would see him less favorably and 30 percent said it wouldn’t make a difference.

Pollster Byron Allen conducted the survey for Club for Growth PAC.