HELENA – A new poll has found that Republican Steve Daines has an 8-point advantage over Democrat Kim Gillan in the race for Montana’s open seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, but that many potential voters don’t recognize either name.
A poll commissioned by Lee Newspapers of Montana found that 46 percent say they’ll vote for Daines while 38 percent pick Gillan. Two percent say they’ll vote for Libertarian Dave Kaiser and 14 percent are undecided.
The poll also found 49 percent didn’t recognize Gillan’s name and 28 percent hadn’t heard of Daines.
The candidates are vying to replace Republican U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, who is challenging Democrat U.S. Sen. Jon Tester for the Senate seat. That contest and the race for Montana’s open governor’s seat have been getting most of the attention, perhaps at the cost of the House race.
“It’s something I haven’t really heard a whole lot about; I’m still kind of ambivalent about that one,” said Lorraine Johnson, a retiree from Plentywood. “I’d kind of like to hear what they’re standing for.”
The 50-year-old Daines, a former business executive from Bozeman, is running on a platform critical of Obama administration policies. Gillan, a 60-year-old workforce training coordinator and state senator from Billings, is running on a promise to provide pragmatic, bipartisan solutions.
Some voters said they’d be voting along party lines.
“I haven’t paid much attention to that race, but I know I’m going to vote Democrat,” said Julie Buckley of Butte. “I’m extremely old-fashioned, and I would rather slit my throat than vote Republican.”
Gary Rose of Kalispell said he is voting for Daines because he’s “the better-qualified candidate, and, philosophically, I prefer his positions.”
The poll found that independent voters favor Daines by a 15-point margin, and men favor Daines by 19 points. Gillan had a slight edge among women, 45 percent to 43 percent. One of them is Carol Finnicum of Joliet.
Daines held a financial advantage over Gillan in midsummer, having about $850,000 in his campaign fund compared to Gillan’s $88,000. Gillan put out her first TV ad several weeks ago. The Daines campaign put out two of its own and said it will run advertisements through election day.
Mason Dixon Polling & Research of Washington, D.C., conducted the telephone poll of 625 registered Montana voters who say they’re likely to vote. The poll was conducted Monday through Wednesday, and the margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.