Three days after Amanda Curtis received the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate, Rasmussen Reports polled 750 likely voters from Montana on whether they would vote for Curtis or her Republican opponent, Rep. Steve Daines. The result, plotted below, puts Daines 20 points ahead of Curtis. Rasmussen did not include Libertarian candidate Roger Roots in the question, so his number is hidden among the undecided.
At 35 percent, Curtis is receiving the bedrock, Yellow Dog, support of the diehard Democratic base. Her numbers should improve as she becomes better known. Democrats should neither panic over Rasmussen’s numbers nor dismiss the poll as Republican biased and unreliable. I’ll update the chart as more polls become publicly available.