If the governor's election were held today, Schweitzer would defeat Brown, a state senator, by 55 percent to 30 percent, with 15 percent undecided.
Schweitzer, a farmer-rancher, had raised slightly more than $750,000 and reported $452,320 left in the bank on Sept. 30.
Brown, a semi-retired businessman with rental and petroleum-related investments, has served in both state legislative chambers. He didn't enter the race until early November, so he has not yet had to file a campaign finance report.
Schweitzer drew mostly favorable reviews from those polled who were interviewed.
"I think he's done an excellent job," Rosenleaf said. "He's done a lot of what he's promised to do in his campaign. The state's in good shape."
Don Andersen of Thompson Falls said Schweitzer is doing "a terrific job."
"It's just that he seems like he's a little more down to earth," Andersen said. "He doesn't have that high, regal quality that the higher-up politicians have. He just seems like he's one of the people."
McPherson applauded Schweitzer for his hard work, saying: "I don't think everything is right, but I do appreciate what he's doing. That $400 (tax rebate) is really kind of cool that we got back. I like that he's a working governor."
Less enchanted with Schweitzer was Donna Menager of Hamilton, who accused him of just playing politics.
"He wants to run for higher office so bad, that he's just running all over the country trying to impress people," she said.
Schweitzer's numbers still look "pretty good," Coker said, although he detected "a little creep-up in his negatives," adding: "His style wears a little thin in some areas."
Coker also noted that "Brown's negatives weren't horrible."
"He's credible, but he's running uphill," Coker said. "As long as Schweitzer's base of support is in the mid-50s, it's going to be hard to beat him."
The Gazette State Poll was conducted Dec. 17-19 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. of Washington, D.C., for The Billings Gazette, Montana Standard of Butte, Helena Independent Record, Missoulian and Ravalli Republic.
A total of 625 registered Montana voters were interviewed statewide by telephone. All said they regularly vote in state elections.
Pollsters interviewed 316 women, for 51 percent of the sample, and 309 men.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. The margin of error is higher for any subgroup such as a gender sampling.
Those interviewed were selected by random variation of the last four digits of telephone numbers. A cross section of telephone exchanges was used to ensure an accurate reflection of the state. Quotas were assigned to reflect the turnout by county.
Here is the breakdown of the 625 telephone calls for the survey:
Eastern Montana area, 55 interviews in these 15 counties: Carter, Powder River, Rosebud, Custer, Fallon, Prairie, Wibaux, Dawson, Garfield, McCone, Richland, Roosevelt, Sheridan, Daniels and Valley.
Billings and southeastern Montana, 125 interviews in these 11 counties: Yellowstone, Treasure, Big Horn, Carbon, Stillwater, Sweet Grass, Wheatland, Golden Valley, Musselshell, Petroleum and Fergus.
Great Falls and north-central Montana, 105 interviews in these 12 counties: Cascade, Meagher, Judith Basin, Teton, Chouteau, Phillips, Blaine, Hill, Liberty, Toole, Pondera and Glacier.
Butte, Helena and Bozeman areas, 160 interviews in these 10 counties: Lewis and Clark, Powell, Broadwater, Jefferson, Silver Bow, Deer Lodge, Beaverhead, Madison, Gallatin and Park.
Missoula and Kalispell areas, 180 interviews in these eight counties: Missoula, Granite, Ravalli, Mineral, Sanders, Lake, Flathead and Lincoln.
When the newspapers finish publishing the stories based on the poll results, copies of the poll results may be purchased from polling company's Web site,
www.mason-dixon.com.
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/12/30/news/state/20-poll.txt
