West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin’s approval rating has grown more than any other senator’s since President Joe Biden took office, according to a Morning Consult poll.
Manchin has faced intraparty blowback for his obstruction of the Democratic Party’s agenda in Congress but his role in the Senate has boosted him among Republicans and independents in the deep-red state.
Manchin’s approval rating in the first quarter of 2022 stood at 57%, according to the poll, up from 40% during the same time in 2021.
No other senator saw a bigger increase.
Other senators who saw double-digit increases include South Dakota Republican John Thune, Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, and California Democrat Alex Padilla.
GOP support rises:
Manchin’s rise is unusual since it came at a time when his own party’s voters increasingly rejected his positions.
Manchin’s approval rating among West Virginia Democrats fell from 63% to just 44%, which 54% disapproving.
But Manchin’s approval among Republicans rose from 35% to 69% and his rating among independents improved from 31% to 50%.
“It turns out that Joe Manchin knows more about West Virginia voters than D.C. strategists,” former Manchin aide Jonathan Kott told Morning Consult. “The amount of interactions he has with his voters I don’t think can be paralleled by other members.”
No boost for Sinema:
While Manchin saw a boost in a state that Trump carried by nearly 40 points, fellow holdout Kyrsten Sinema has seen her approval rating fall from 46% to 44%.
The share of voters who disapprove of her performance rose from 35% to 42%.
Sinema was one of the 12 least popular senators in the survey.
