Barack Obama leads Hillary Clinton 52% to 35% in the Mason-Dixon poll released today by Montana's Lee Newspapers. Obama leads Clinton in every category except the much smaller pool of Eastern Montana voters. Obama leads among women 48% to 36%, and among men 58% to 33%.
http://missoulian.com/...
Perhaps most overwhelming are a comparison of Obama's, McCain's and Clinton's unfavorables. Obama's favorables are 41% versus 38% unfavorable. McCain has the best ratio, with 46% favorable and 35% unfavorable. Clinton's ratios are a dismal 29% favorable and 50% unfavorable--and it is this unyielding unpopularity in the Rocky Mountain and Central states that is perhaps the greatest reason Hillary Clinton is not leading the Democratic Presidential nomination.
http://missoulian.com/...
In the general election Montana matchups, John McCain leads Barack Obama by 8 per cent--47% to 39%, with 14% undecided. McCain leads Hillary Clinton 51% to 40%, with 9% undecided.
So, McCain has a strong lead over both candidates in a state that, since WWII, has only gone for the Democratic nominee in three races. Those were in 1948 for Harry Truman, in Lyndon Johnson's 1964 landslide, and in 1992, when Ross Perot pulled 26% of the vote, and thereby allowed Bill Clinton to get the greatest number of Montana votes.
OTOH, Obama is within the "Keith" (Olbermann) number with only an 8% difference between him and McCain and 14% still undecided, while Clinton is 11% behind with only 9% undecided.
Here are some more numbers from the survey:
http://www.latimes.com/...
Men: Obama 58, Clinton 33
Women: Obama 48, Clinton 36
Under 50: Obama 56, Clinton 30
Over 50: Obama 49, Clinton 39
W. MT: Obama 62, Clinton 25
E. MT: Clinton 47, Obama 40