The Democratic firm Public Policy Polling has released its latest results from the matchup between Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Tester and his opponent, Congressman Denny Rehberg.
The numbers show that Tester’s favorability rating is quite good, 51-39, but he still trails Rehberg 45-47 in the U.S. Senate race. The numbers are essentially unchanged from when PPP last polled the race back in November. Meanwhile, Rehberg’s approval rating has dropped to 44-45. From PPP:
Yet in spite of a negative trend in Rehberg’s public perception with swing voters and the fact that Tester is the second most popular Democratic senator from a McCain state after West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, his head-to-head with Rehberg hasn’t moved because of the persistent though not overwhelming red lean of the state (Republicans outnumber Democrats 39-31), and because Rehberg does a better job than Tester of translating approval into votes.
Meanwhile, Sen. Max Baucus’ favorability rating is the lowest of the three, 41-50. See all the results here (.pdf).