Obama Approval in WV Plummets into 20's

Relentless Republican attacks on Barack Obama in the closing days of the West Virginia Governor's race weren't quite enough to put Bill Maloney over the top...but they were enough to make Obama's already poor numbers in the state even worse than they were before.

Obama's approval rating in West Virginia fell from 32% in September to 28% on our October poll conducted right before last week's election. He barely even has plurality approval from Democrats at 45/44 and support from independents (16/69) and Republicans (5/91) is virtually nonexistent.

Obama's deficits against his potential Republican opponents are worse than they were a month ago as well. He trails Mitt Romney by 21 points at 54-33, Rick Perry by 16 at 52-36, Newt Gingrich by 15 at 51-36, Michele Bachmann by 15 at 52-37, and Ron Paul by 14 at 48-34. His deficit against Romney is 9 points larger than it was a month ago and he's also doing 5 points worse against Perry, 10 points worse against Gingrich, and 6 points worse against Bachmann. If Maloney had gained 9 points on Tomblin in the final month of the campaign the same way Romney gained 9 points on Obama, he'd be Governor now.