Montana Miscellany

-Steve Bullock's off to a pretty good start with the public in his first few months as Governor of Montana. 43% of voters approve of the job he's doing to only 18% who disapprove. Democrats (81/2) are very happy with him while only 47% of Republicans have even formed an opinion about him, suggesting that they're taking a wait and see approach.

Montanans continue to be closely divided on Jon Tester as we found throughout last year's election- 45% both approve and disapprove of him. Barack Obama continues to be unpopular in the state- only 43% of voters are happy with the job he's doing to 55% who give him poor marks.

-As we tend to find in most red states, Montana voters are opposed to gay marriage but supportive of civil union rights for same sex couples. 43% of voters think same sex marriage should be made legal to 49% who think it should continue to be illegal. But 64% of voters favor at least civil unions to only 33% who think there shouldn't be any legal rights for gay couples at all.

-It's a sign of how much Democrats want Hillary Clinton to be their candidate in 2016 that as much as Brian Schweitzer is loved in Montana, 58% still prefer Clinton to 22% for their potential home state candidate. Joe Biden at 9%, Elizabeth Warren at 5%, and Andrew Cuomo at 3% are the only other people we tested to register over 1%. Schweitzer would lead Biden 35/28 if you took Clinton out of the mix, and would get 46% to 18% for Warren and 12% for Cuomo if Biden was out of the mix too.

-We've found Hillary Clinton leading the Republican field in a lot of red states over the last few months...but Montana is not one of them. Clinton trails Marco Rubio 50/42 and Paul Ryan 51/44 in hypothetical match ups in the state. Schweitzer would have a better chance of carrying the state- he ties Rubio at 46 and trails Ryan 49/45. At any rate it looks like 2008 may have been the best chance to carry Montana that Democrats are going to have for a long time.

Full results here

Comments

[LiberalAgenda21]

Warren passed Cuomo and that means if she wants it the nomination could be hers. Biden is not a match for Warren. I know its just one state but keep polling her v. Biden and Cuomo. She may be the next president of the United States.

[Todd Dugdale]

This may be petty, but could you please identify the party affiliation of the people mentioned in your summaries? Not all of us are familiar with the politicians in other States, and it isn't always easy to infer from context.

[Thomas]

If Hillary Clinton does not run for president the Democratic candidate will be Andrew Cuomo.

that's it.

Biden is too old and gaff prone,everyone else doesn't have the name recognition or juice to raise money Cuomo has as Governor of New York.

the best ticket for the Republicans would be Bobby Jindal and Condie Rice.

the GOP has to do something like that to make-up for W,McCain/Palin and Romney/Ryan.