Joe Manchin's approval rating is up 16 points since Biden became president


Democrats can rage all they want — Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) seemingly isn't going anywhere.
According to a new Morning Consult poll, Manchin's job approval rating among West Virginia's registered voters has jumped 16 percent since President Biden took office, by far the largest increase of any senator.
In the past year, his approval rating among Republicans rose from 35 percent to 69 percent, more than enough to offset his decreased approval rating among Democrats, which fell from 63 percent to 44 percent. West Virginia's Register-Herald reported last year that there are about 4,300 more registered Republicans than registered Democrats in West Virginia.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
These partisan shifts likely result from Manchin's high-profile votes against Biden's Build Back Better bill and voting rights legislation, in which the centrist Democrat joined with Senate Republicans to kill two major pillars of the administration's legislative agenda.
Writing for The Week, David Faris argued on Thursday that "Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and his allies should make life so unbearable for Manchin and [Arizona Sen. Krysten] Sinema … that they leave the party sometime before the 2022 midterms if one last push for even a microscopic version of the Build Back Better social investment package fails because of them." Faris, however, admitted that although Democrats could likely unseat Sinema, they have little chance of primarying Manchin or of defeating him in a general election if he joins the Republican Party. Former President Donald Trump won West Virginia by nearly 40 points in 2020.
The Morning Consult polls surveyed at least 2,057 registered West Virginia voters in the first quarters of 2021 and 2022 with an error margin of two percent.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Modern Age, The American Conservative, The Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.
-
Lesotho: the tiny African nation in the crosshairs of Trump's tariff war
Under the Radar US president imposes 50% reciprocal levy on the impoverished state: the highest of his so-called 'Liberation Day' tariffs
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
18 slang words and phrases we can thank (or blame) Gen Z for
In Depth Younger Americans have put their stamp on our language with these neologisms
By David Faris Published
-
Kennedy: Cutting to the bone at HHS
Feature The Health and Human Services Secretary has laid off 10,000 HHS employees
By The Week US Published
-
Trump, China up trade war risks with tariff threats
Speed Read China said it would 'fight to the end' after President Donald Trump threatened an additional 50% tariff on Chinese imports
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court gives Trump 2 deportation wins
Speed Read The court ruled that the Trump administration could continue to deport Venezuelan migrants
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Judge orders US to recall deported migrant
Speed Read The Trump administration has been ordered to retrieve one of the migrants it sent to a prison in El Salvador due to an 'administrative error'
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump calls tariffs 'medicine' as stocks plunge
Speed Read 'Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,' the president said of his imposed 10% tariffs on imported goods
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump axes NSA head, NSC staff after Loomer advice
Speed Read On the recommendation of Laura Loomer, Trump fired the head of the National Security Agency and several National Security Council officials
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump says tariffs 'going very well' as markets fall
speed read US financial markets had their biggest one-day drop since the advent of Covid-19
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump rolls out tariffs on virtually all imports
Speed Read On "Liberation Day," Trump announced a 10% baseline tariff on all imports to America and higher reciprocal tariffs for some 60 other countries
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Sen. Booker's 25-hour speech beats Thurmond
Speed Read He spoke for the longest time in recorded Senate history, protesting the Trump administration's policies
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published