John McCain begins the general election season with an eight-point advantage over Barack Obama in West Virginia. The first Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of this general election match-up shows McCain attracting 45% of the vote while Obama earns 37%. Neither man is terribly popular in the state. McCain earns favorable reviews from 48% and unfavorable ratings from another 48%. The numbers for Obama are 40% favorable and 57% unfavorable. Those figures include 26% with a Very Unfavorable opinion of McCain and 35% with such a negative view of Obama.
McCain and Obama are very competitive nationally in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.
Rasmussen Markets data shows that Republicans are given a 85.0 % chance of winning West Virginia’s five Electoral College votes this fall. Four years ago, George W. Bush won the state by thirteen percentage points. Four years earlier, West Virginia abandoned a long history of voting for Democrats as the GOP won a six-point victory. West Virginia is listed as “Safely Republican” in the Rasmussen Reports Balance of Power Calculator.
While President Bush won 56% of the West Virginia vote in Election 2004, just 27% of the state’s voters now believe he is doing a good or an excellent job. Most—58%--say the President is doing a poor job.
By a 59% to 32% margin, West Virginia voters say it’s more important to get the troops home from Iraq than to win the War. Forty-five percent (45%) say victory is at least somewhat likely if John McCain is elected President. Just 20% say that victory is that likely if Obama is elected. However, 48% believe a President Obama would be at least somewhat likely to get the troops home within four years. Just 35% say a President McCain would be likely to do the same.
Just 12% of West Virginia voters believe that the federal government represents the will of the people while 76% say it does not. These figures are similar to the national average. Seventy percent (70%) say the federal government has become a special interest group that looks out primarily for its own interests.
Forty-one percent (41%) believe American elections are fair to voters. However, 73% are confident their votes will be accurately counted and the appropriate candidates declared as winners.