Relentless Republican attacks on Barack Obama in the closing days of the West Virginia Governor's race weren't quite enough to put Bill Maloney over the top...but they were enough to make Obama's already poor numbers in the state even worse than they were before.
Obama's approval rating in West Virginia fell from 32% in September to 28% on our October poll conducted right before last week's election. He barely even has plurality approval from Democrats at 45/44 and support from independents (16/69) and Republicans (5/91) is virtually nonexistent.
Obama's deficits against his potential Republican opponents are worse than they were a month ago as well. He trails Mitt Romney by 21 points at 54-33, Rick Perry by 16 at 52-36, Newt Gingrich by 15 at 51-36, Michele Bachmann by 15 at 52-37, and Ron Paul by 14 at 48-34. His deficit against Romney is 9 points larger than it was a month ago and he's also doing 5 points worse against Perry, 10 points worse against Gingrich, and 6 points worse against Bachmann. If Maloney had gained 9 points on Tomblin in the final month of the campaign the same way Romney gained 9 points on Obama, he'd be Governor now.
Obama's current standing against Romney in West Virginia is historically bad- the last Democrat to lose the state by that wide of a margin was George McGovern in 1972...probably not a name Obama wants to be mentioned in the same sentence with. Democrats certainly won a big victory last week with Earl Ray Tomblin's election to fill the rest of Joe Manchin's term as Governor but there will be no such luck when it comes to the Presidential race in the state next year.
Full results here
I am willing to bet that race has a lot to do with it. Racism is something that can't be polled successfully because more often than not most people deny that they are racist.
Posted by: jeff | October 13, 2011 at 07:23 PM
Wow! Obama down to total lunatics like Bachmann by 15% points is ... well it says a lot about West Virginia. None of it very nice.
Posted by: Obama 2012 | October 13, 2011 at 11:47 PM
Obama has an appointment with history as the most woeful President the US has produced since Independance. He will be the last looney Left experiment.
Posted by: Mike S | October 14, 2011 at 04:35 PM
Gosh! What a surprise....West Virginians don't like president Obama...I wonder why? could it be race?
Posted by: Lanny | October 18, 2011 at 08:11 AM