Dem poll: Rahall up double digits

Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) leads his Republican challenger by a double-digit margin, according to a new poll released from the pro-Democratic House Majority PAC.

{mosads}Rahall leads West Virginia state Rep. Evan Jenkins (R) by 52 percent-40 percent in the poll.

Partisan polls should always be taken with a grain of salt, as they tend to get released only when they show good news for the side releasing it. But this is a positive sign for Rahall.

His lead comes in spite of a 35 percent approval rating for President Obama in the district, according to the poll. Obama won just 33 percent of the vote there in 2012. A poll from the National Republican Congressional Committee released last month found Rahall trailing by double digits.

The House Majority PAC and Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group backed by the billionaire businessmen Charles and David Koch, have been waging an intense air war in the conservative West Virginia district.

Rahall and Jenkins both went on air for the first time last week, responding to the attack ads against them.

The live-caller poll of 400 likely voters was conducted by Democratic pollster Garin-Hart-Yang Research from April 15-16. The margin of error is plus or minus 5 percent.