Businessman Jim Justice leads his two competitors in the Democratic race for governor, according to a new poll, but Justice's lead is slim and more than 1 in 5 voters remain undecided.
Justice leads among likely Democratic primary voters with 32 percent, compared to 25 percent for former U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin and 23 percent for Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler, according to the MetroNews West Virginia Poll, released Thursday morning.
"With no candidate receiving more than one-third of the support and 21 percent undecided, voters are clearly weighing their options," Rex Repass, the director of the poll, said in a news release. "As owner of The Greenbrier, Justice has the benefit of high name recognition in the race for the Democratic nomination."
In potential general election matchups, Justice leads the Republican candidate, Senate President Bill Cole, 49 percent to 39 percent.
Cole holds narrow leads over both Goodwin and Kessler in potential general election matchups.
He is in a virtual dead heat with Goodwin, leading 44 percent to 43 percent, and he leads Kessler 45 percent to 40 percent.
Of the 411 likely voters polled, 48 percent said they were registered Democrats and 30 percent were registered Republicans, with 20 percent unaffiliated.
Of the unaffiliated respondents (a total of 82 people), 43 percent said they would request a Republican ballot in the primary and 13 percent said they would request a Democratic ballot.
The most recent poll was conducted between Feb. 11 and 16 and has a 4.9 percent margin of error. There were 208 respondents for the Democratic primary question, indicating a slightly higher margin of error for those results.
This is the first edition of the MetroNews West Virginia Poll since early September and the results are fairly similar.
In that poll, Justice led Cole in a hypothetical matchup by 46 percent to 37 percent.
Goodwin had not yet entered the race at that point and Justice led Kessler in the Democratic primary by 40 percent to 34 percent.
Another poll, conducted by a Charleston firm in August, also showed Justice leading Kessler in the Democratic primary and leading Cole in a potential general election matchup.
The primary elections are May 10.
Reach David Gutman at david.gutman@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5119 or follow @davidlgutman on Twitter.