Poll: Justice holds strong lead over Mooney in GOP Senate race

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — New polling data from the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce shows a tight race between Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Del. Moore Capito for the republican nomination for governor.

The same poll shows a strong lead for Gov. Jim Justice (56%) over Rep. Alex Mooney (19%) in the race in the GOP Senate primary.

The Republican lawmaker told Eyewitness News' Dave Benton that his conservative record would outweigh Justice's name recognition by the primary.

“That's more of a snapshot of people recognizing somebody's name,” Mooney said of the poll. “The primary election is May 14 next year. That gives me a lot of time to demonstrate to the voters the truth, which is that I’m the only conservative running for this position. I think by the time the primary gets here that the voters will be aware of that and chose the only true conservative in the race which is me. "

If that snapshot stays in focus, Mooney could win every vote the poll shows as undecided and still lose.

The race for governor remains close as Morrisey (31%) narrowly leads Capito (30%). There are other candidates with lower numbers and a 6% percent margin of error in the poll.

That effectively shows a tie between Morrisey and Capito with other candidates having their work and fund raising cut out for them.

“The other candidates right now are polling single digits,” West Virginia Chamber of Commerce vice president Brian Dayton said. “This race is very competitive right now. This race is very close."

The poll surveyed 651 Republican and non-affiliated voters

The GOP race for attorney general is still taking shape with two-thirds of voters remaining undecided. The chamber poll shows Mike Stuart (21%) leading Ryan Weld (14%).