Pollster: Montana Senate Race “Not Competitive” Enough for More Polls

The first poll matching up the democrat's newly nominated U.S. Senate Candidate Amanda Curtis and Republican Steve Daines is out and although Curtis and former nominee John Walsh seem like very different candidates, it would be hard to tell that by their poll numbers.

"It looks like 'meet the new candidate' is just like 'meet the old candidate,'" said Rasmussen Reports Managing Editor Fran Coombs. "What we have is Steve Daines out front by 20 points, and that is pretty much the lead he had on John Walsh when we did our last survey in your state, which was in June. At that point Daines led Walsh 53 -35 and now, Daines is leading Amanda Curtis 55 - 35... 20 points."

Coombs says that Daines’ lead is so substantial, that Rasmussen probably won’t be doing another poll in Montana until a month before the election.

"I'll be honest with you, we're probably not going to do [another Montana U.S. Senate poll] again until, I would say, maybe early October... we'll do it one more time," Coombs said. "Generally the races we'll zero in on are the ones we think will be more competitive. Unless we see something in the news that suggests this race is closing, or there is some reason to think it is going to be competitive going down to the wire, my guess is we'll take a look at Montana just one more time."

This particular Rasmussen poll questioned 750 likely Montana voters early last week.

Here are some of the report's take-aways:

• Daines who is well-known in the state is viewed Very Favorably by 30% of Montana voters and Very Unfavorably by 19%. For Curtis, Very Favorables are 16% and Very Unfavorables 17%. But one-in-four voters (23%) say they have never heard of her.

 

• Seventy-nine percent (79%) of Montana Democrats support Curtis. Daines has the backing of 92% of the state’s Republican voters and 11% of Democrats. He also leads by 23 points among voters not affiliated with either major party.

 

• The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Montana Voters shows Republican Congressman Steve Daines with a 20-point lead – 55% to 35% - over Curtis. Two percent (2%) like some other candidate in the race, and eight percent (8%) are undecided.

 

• Montana remains Safe Republican in the Rasmussen Reports Senate Balance of Power rankings. The GOP needs a net gain of six seats to take control of the Senate and is counting on Montana to be one of them