Senator Joe Manchin may be an outlier among most of his Democratic colleagues in Washington, but he knows what plays back home. A new survey by Republican pollster Mark Blankenship of MBE Research* finds Manchin is on solid ground with most voters in West Virginia.
Manchin has a 61 percent approval rating among registered voters, while 37 percent disapprove of the job he is doing.
“Voters want to be listened to. When they feel like you’re listening to them, they will reward that either at the polls or in numbers like this,” Blankenship said on MetroNews Talkline Monday. “I think that’s what’s recognized here is that Senator Manchin is listening to the people of West Virginia.”
For example, Manchin supported the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that President Biden signed into law yesterday. That legislation includes about $6 billion for roads, bridges, water and sewer projects, broadband and other traditional infrastructure projects in West Virginia.
That is a popular position in West Virginia. The MBE Poll found that a whopping 77 percent of those questioned support Senators Manchin and Republican Shelley Moore Capito “working together in a bipartisan effort to pass a national infrastructure bill.”
Bipartisanship. Money for roads, bridges and broadband. No wonder both Manchin and Capito get high numbers on the infrastructure bill. It fits the narrative for many West Virginians of how Congress is supposed to work.
The survey finds that Manchin, at least for now, is aligned with West Virginia voters on the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better proposal. Sixty-one percent agree with Manchin’s current position of opposing the spending proposal.
I’m open to ideas here. Anyone???
Personally, it appears to me that they are following his lead rather than the other way around. But there’s no way to prove that. He’s secure in the knowledge that most of his constituents love him, donors are grateful and Republicans consider him their best friend. It’s all good.