MT-PPP: Sen. Tester (D) leads a few Republicans, trails a few others

[InquilineKea]

I'm so surprised - why would Tester have such high approval ratings in one of the most anti-government states in the nation? Especially when the approval ratings of other senators (especially ones who voted for "Obamacare") are tanking?

[DrScholl]

Don't forget this is a registered voter poll, so the Republicans would probably do about 5 points better than this in an actual election

At this point, only registered voter polls are done, it's far to early to even say that anyone would do better in the actual election, because the likely voter screen isn't formed yet.

[Meeker]

Rehberg has always struck me as a guy who's just kind of there; he's never had to run a tough race in his life (he was appointed Lt. Governor, and even for his first term in the House the Democrats put a nobody up), so he might not want to risk going up against a strong opponent. He could always just wait until 2014, since Baucus looks like an easier target at this point (plus Baucus might just retire).

?

Rehberg was the 1996 nominee against Baucus.

[JohnnyLongtorso]

Rehberg has always struck me as a guy who's just kind of there; he's never had to run a tough race in his life (he was appointed Lt. Governor, and even for his first term in the House the Democrats put a nobody up), so he might not want to risk going up against a strong opponent. He could always just wait until 2014, since Baucus looks like an easier target at this point (plus Baucus might just retire).

?

Rehberg was the 1996 nominee against Baucus.

Missed that. Oh well, never mind.

[Dgov]

Don't forget this is a registered voter poll, so the Republicans would probably do about 5 points better than this in an actual election

Well, that didn't take long.

Has there ever been an election where Democrats didn't do worse in the actual electorate rather than "Registered voters"?  It's an important trend to note.

[nkpatel1279]

The 2012 MT US Senate Race between Tester-D vs Rehberg-R will be similar to the 2002 SD US Senate Race between Johnson-D- a weak First term Democratic Incumbent from a Red State. vs Thune- a popular Republican at large US House Member.  2002 was a Republican leaning midterm election year- George W Bush was highly popular- during the 2002 Midterm election cycle- Post 9-11/Pre Iraq War.  Johnson-D narrowly defeated Thune-R during the 2002 SD US Senate Race.