(Editorial - Graphic Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

Data from the most recent WV MetroNews West Virginia poll, presented during this year’s state Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting and Business Summit, contained “a warning sign … for political leadership in the state.”

Despite the incessant dive by too many elected officials for the cheapest possible political points, most West Virginians (73% of those registered voters who were polled) are more worried about economic development and jobs than social issues.

“By a clear majority, nearly three-fourths … said the Legislature should be focusing on economic development issues more than social issues,” said Rex Repass, the chief consultant for Research America. “That is the way West Virginians see it. They understand and have points of view and attitudes about the social issues of the day, but they want a good economy. They want jobs. They want people coming back to the state.”

Voters also made it clear how they feel about our headlining elected officials. While U.S. Sen. Jim Justice has an approval rating of 55%, U.S. Rep. Riley Moore earned an approval rating of only 32%. Gov. Patrick Morrisey has an approval rating of 45%, with 30% outright disapproving of him and 26% unsure. But for the state legislature, the approval rating is just 44% (though that is better that Congress, which garnered 40% approval).

Waging bizarre crusades is not adding up to the huge approval numbers for which some may have hoped. It’s not what voters want. It’s not what West Virginians want.

“There’s alignment with many of the things the Legislature is doing, particularly with respect to economic development issues and creating jobs in the state,” Repass said. “But there is an underlying latent concern about the economy in the state and people wondering what’s next … That uncertainty that we saw last year and in the previous year and the previous year is growing. And that’s a warning sign, I think, for political leadership in the state.”

Perhaps there would be less uncertainty if voters were confident their elected officials understood their job and were visibly working to diversify and expand our economy while getting out of the way of our state becoming the kind of place where people want to move or stay to live and raise their families.

Seventy-three percent speaks loudly and clearly to what voters want from the people elected to serve them. The question now is whether those people will listen.