HELENA — The race for Montana’s next governor is about even, with 11 percent of likely voters undecided if they’ll choose Democrat Steve Bullock or Republican Rick Hill in November’s election, a new poll found.
Mason Dixon Polling & Research of Washington conducted a telephone poll Sept. 17-19 of 625 registered Montana voters who said they were likely to vote. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The poll, commissioned by Lee Newspapers of Montana, found Bullock receiving 44 percent of the likely vote to Hill’s 43 percent. The difference is within the poll’s margin of error. Eleven percent was undecided and 2 percent said they would vote for Libertarian Ron Vandevender.
Respondents also were asked if they recognized the two major party candidates’ names and whether they had a favorable or unfavorable opinion.
Bullock, Montana’s attorney general, had a 42 percent favorable rating, 23 percent unfavorable and 33 percent neutral. Two percent didn’t recognize his name.
Hill, a former U.S. Representative, had a favorable rating with 32 percent of those polled, an unfavorable one with 31 percent while 31 percent had a neutral opinion. Six percent didn’t recognize his name.
“In the governor’s race, I was kind of struck by Hill’s negatives and Bullock being slightly ahead,” said Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research.
The poll also found that Republican Tim Fox has a 46 percent to 37 percent advantage over Democrat Pam Bucy in the race for attorney general. Another 17 percent are undecided.
The Republican State Leadership Committee based in Washington has bought more than $580,000 in television and radio advertising to support Fox’s bid for attorney general. The ad buy is more than what Fox and Bucy have taken in combined, with Bucy raising $270,000 and Fox $232,000 so far.
Independent expenditure advertising in support of a candidate is legal, but coordination between the groups buying the ads and the candidates is not.
Meanwhile, Supreme Court justice candidates Ed Sheehy and District Judge Laurie McKinnon were nearly tied, with 23 and 22 percent of the vote, respectively. About 55 percent of those polled said they were undecided.