Poll: Matt Rosendale and Jon Tester in Dead Heat

A poll released Friday revealed that Montana state auditor Matt Rosendale is in a dead heat behind Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT).

The poll, conducted by Remington Research Group, shows Rosendale only three points behind Sen. Tester at 49-46 percent. Five percent of Montanans remain undecided about the Senate race, and the margin of error is two percent.

The poll also suggested that President Donald Trump has 53 percent favorability among Montanans, and 43 percent of Montanans view him negatively.

Rosendale said in a statement on Friday:

I’m deeply encouraged by the strong level of support we’re seeing across the state despite the smear campaign launched against me by Jon Tester and his out-of-state, dark money allies. They may be running millions of dollars in false advertisements against me, but Montanans know that I’ll stand with President Trump to advance his agenda and will always fight to protect our Montana way of life.

Sen. Tester is the third-highest recipient of money outside of Montana for 2018 with $8,956,958, or 78.6 percent, of total money raised for his campaign. Only Sens. Doug Jones (D-AL) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) beat Tester in raising money from outside his or her state.

Rosendale’s campaign said he has raised $700,000 since he won his primary election in June. Overall, Rosendale raised more than $1 million in the second quarter of 2018.

Red state Senate Democrats such as Tester face an increasingly difficult balancing act between supporting the Democrat Party’s leftist base or backing President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

After Trump announced Kavanaugh as his nominee, Sen. Tester said in a statement that he will vet him:

I take my constitutional duty to screen the president’s nominees very seriously, and in the coming weeks, I look forward to meeting with Judge Kavanaugh. Montanans have a lot on the line with this next Supreme Court justice, so I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to put politics aside and do what’s best for this nation.

Meanwhile, Rosendale said he supports Kavanaugh’s nominee. Montana’s state auditor charged:

Jon Tester now has to decide; does he side with the far left in Washington or with Montana? I’m a straight shooter, I’ll stand with the people of Montana and President Trump to support Kavanaugh’s nomination because there is no doubt that he will defend our Constitution and protect our Montana way of life.”

At a rally in Montana last week, President Donald Trump chided Sen. Tester and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for voting against Obamacare repeal.

When Trump said, “Jon Tester voted no on repealing Obamacare,” the Montana crowd replied with loud booing.

Trump also noted, “Jon Tester voted no on tax cuts for Montana families,” which was the legislation that repealed Obamacare’s individual mandate.

“We would not have this catastrophe of Obamacare if it were not for Jon Tester,” Rosendale said in an interview with Breitbart News Daily last August.