Besides the U.S. Senate race in Montana next year being close, the Montana Governor’s race is shaping up to be the same way (only with less money).

For all of us watching and commenting about the political process, it will be fun!  Right now it looks like the contest will be between Republican Rick Hill and Democrat Steve Bullock.

For those folks who are unfamiliar with the two, Hill is a former Congressman and Bullock is the current Montana Attorney General.  The current Montana Governor, Brian Schweitzer, is term-limited.

Recently a new Public Policy Polling poll was released and, overall, Hill leads Bullock 39-38, but 23% are undecided. According to PPP, “The margin of error for the entire survey is +/-2.4%, and +/-4.1% for the Democratic primary portion.”

After taking a couple of days to digest the results of the latest PPP data, here are a few things that stood out to me:

-Rick Hill’s unfavorable rating increased 2% from the last poll to 27%

-His favorable rating is 22% (it also increased 2%)

-51% were not sure about having a favorable or unfavorable opinion about Hill

-Steve Bullock’s favorable rating is 34% and his unfavorable rating is 17%

-His unfavorable rating went down 1% from June and his favorable rating went up 6%

-There were 49% who were not sure about having a favorable or unfavorable opinion about Bullock

Other Things to Consider:

-It’s still really early and most folks don’t have an opinion yet

-Hill can use the fact that he is the only GOP candidate who beats Bullock to his advantage in the GOP primary

-Bullock just finished a state-wide race (2008) so he should be the better known candidate

-Many of the 23% “undecided” folks are probably the independent/moderate voters

You can access the latest (Dec. 5, 2011) PPP poll HERE.

You can access June 22, 2011, PPP poll HERE.

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