Donald Trump holds an overwhelming lead in West Virginia's Republican presidential primary, while Bernie Sanders has a smaller lead in the state's Democratic primary, according to a new poll released Tuesday.
The poll also shows businessman Jim Justice leading his Democratic gubernatorial rivals, Booth Goodwin and Jeff Kessler. Justice also holds a lead over Republican Bill Cole in a potential general election matchup.
Public Policy Polling of Raleigh, North Carolina, surveyed 1,201 West Virginia voters between April 29 and May 1. Eighty percent of respondents were surveyed by telephone, and 20 percent were surveyed online.
The poll shows Trump with a commanding 61 percent support among Republican voters heading into the May 10 primary. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz had 22 percent support, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich had 14 percent support.
West Virginia is one of the few states where more people feel positive than negative about Trump; his overall ratings are 47 percent favorable and 45 percent unfavorable. Among state Republicans, that jumps to 67 percent favorable, 24 percent unfavorable.
Trump's voters are also more committed to him, according to the poll, than those of Cruz or Kasich. The poll shows 87 percent of Trump supporters will definitely vote for him, compared to 67 percent of Cruz voters and 45 percent of Kasich voters.
"It's hard to find better Trump territory than West Virginia," Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, said in a news release. "He's by far and away the strongest candidate both among Republican voters and among the general electorate. It will be hard to find many places where he has an overall positive favorability rating but West Virginia is one of them."
Among Democrats, Bernie Sanders is leading Hillary Clinton 45 percent to 37 percent, with 18 percent of likely Democratic primary voters undecided.
"The 18 percent of voters who are undecided is unusually high and speaks to the number of registered Democrats in West Virginia who don't really identify with the national party at this point," PPP pollsters noted in a news release.
The poll notes that West Virginia is one of several open primary states where Clinton is polling ahead of Sanders among registered Democrats (at 43 percent to 41 percent), but is trailing overall because of Sanders' 56 percent to 19 percent lead among independents who plan to vote in the Democratic primary.
Among Clinton supporters, 79 percent say they will definitely vote for her, compared to 65 percent of Sanders supporters.
The poll shows Trump with significant leads over Clinton (57 to 30 percent) and Sanders (56 to 35 percent) in potential general election matchups.
In the governor's race, the poll gives Justice the support of 37 percent of likely Democratic primary voters, to 23 percent for former U.S. attorney Goodwin and 19 percent for Kessler, the state Senate's minority leader. Twenty-one percent of Democratic voters were undecided, a week before the election.
In a potential general election showdown against Cole, the Republican state Senate president, the poll gives Justice a 41 percent to 35 percent lead.
In other general election match-ups, the poll shows Cole leading Goodwin by 39 to 33 percent margin, and Kessler by 40 to 30 percent.
"West Virginia gets tougher and tougher for Democrats when it comes to federal races," Debnam said in the news release. "But in Jim Justice, Democrats have found a candidate who looks like he might be strong enough to at least keep the governor's office in their hands."
"Jim is pleased that he leads in every poll for the primary and the general, and is thrilled that the people of West Virginia are rallying behind him and his message of creating jobs," Justice campaign spokesman Grant Herring said of the poll results.
Kent Gates, Cole campaign spokesman, said Cole is also pleased with the poll numbers, saying it shows "voters are responding to his positive vision to create jobs and grow the economy."
Gates said Cole, who was first appointed to the Legislature six years ago, "is new to politics and makes decisions based on what is right for West Virginia, not political polls. During the course of the campaign, we are confident voters will side with his leadership and ideas."
In a statement, Goodwin noted the race has tightened since a poll the Justice campaign released in January showed him trailing Justice by 26 percentage points, and said he is confident that another week of statewide campaigning will erase the gap as he picks up support of undecided voters.
"My opponent has dropped since the last poll in January, while I've gained 10 points," Goodwin said. "I'm encouraged to see 21 percent of the voters are taking another look at me and the fresh ideas I'm bringing to the table."
The poll surveyed 637 likely Democratic primary voters and 549 likely Republican primary voters. It has a margin of error of 2.8 percent overall, 3.9 percent for the Democratic races and 4.2 percent for the Republican races.
Reach Phil Kabler at philk@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1220, or follow @PhilKabler on Twitter.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated Bill Cole's term in the Legislature. Cole was appointed to fill an unexpired House of Delegates term in 2010, and then was elected to the state Senate in 2012.