Just two days after Public Policy Polling reported that Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is leading Republican Congressman Denny Rehberg by 5 points, Rasmussen released its own poll that has Rehberg up 10. Yes, 10.
The discrepancy between the PPP and Rasmussen poll results – 15 points – is about as large as you will see, especially since they were released only days apart.
Both Tester’s and Rehberg’s camps can make the case that the unfavorable poll results are outliers. And they could be. Just about every other poll, including those from PPP and Rasmussen, released over the last few months have shown a much tighter race, although often showing Rehberg with a slight lead.
Also on Thursday, PPP released its survey of the Montana governor’s race. In the GOP primary, it found Rick Hill leading with 33 percent, followed by Ken Miller with 12 percent; Corey Stapleton with 7 percent; Neil Livingstone with 5 percent; Jim Lynch with 4 percent; Jim O’Hara with 4 percent; and Bob Fanning with 1 percent.
In a matchup between Hill and presumptive Democratic nominee Attorney General Steve Bullock, PPP found the race tied 39-39.