The Nevada governor’s race shows little change this month, with Democratic hopeful Rory Reid continuing to trail former judge Brian Sandoval by a wide margin.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Nevada finds Sandoval, a Republican, with 57% support. Reid earns 36% of the vote, with three percent (3%) favoring another candidate and four percent (4%) undecided.

For both candidates, it’s their highest level of support to date but also mirrors the numbers in the race for months.

Three weeks ago, Sandoval posted a 55% to 33% lead over Reid. In five surveys since March, Sandoval’s support has remained in the tight range of 53% to 55%. In those same surveys, support for Reid has ranged from 31% to 35%.

Sandoval, the winner of a five-way GOP Primary race last month, leads by nearly two-to-one among male voters and by 17 points among women.

The Republican carries 86% of voters in his own party and 22% of Democrats. Reid has 72% support from Democratic voters. Voters not affiliated with either major party prefer Sandoval by three-to-one.

Like his father, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the younger Reid faces a difficult political environment in a state with a highly pessimistic view of the economy and serious reservations about the Obama administration's challenge of Arizona's new immigration law.

Sixty-two percent (62%) of Nevada voters say the economy is poor, while only three percent (3%) view it as good or excellent. Twenty-eight percent (28%) say the economy is getting better, but 49% expect it to get worse.

Seventy-four percent (74%) say the country is in recession.

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The survey of 750 Likely Voters in Nevada was conducted on July 12, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

The elder Reid is creeping forward and now is nearly tied with Republican Sharron Angle in Nevada’s U.S. Senate race. 

Only 29% of Nevada voters agree with the U.S. Justice Department’s decision to challenge Arizona’s new immigration law in court. Sixty-three percent (63%) disagree with that challenge, seven points higher than voter sentiments nationally.

Sixty-five percent (65%) of the state’s voters favor passage of a law like Arizona’s in Nevada, but 28% oppose such a law. This, too, is higher than support for an Arizona-like law among all voters nationwide. 

Seventy-six percent (76%) of the larger group that favors passage of a law like Arizona’s support Sandoval, the first Hispanic ever elected to statewide office. Reid earns 73% of the vote from those who oppose a law like that in their state.

The Democrat earns similar support from those who agree with the Justice Department challenge, while those who disagree strongly favor the Republican.

Sixty-two percent (62%) of all voters in the state favor a welcoming immigration policy that excludes only national security threats, criminals and those who come here to live off the U.S. welfare system. Twenty-two percent (22%) disagree with a policy with that exclusion, and 16% more are undecided.

Twenty-four percent (24%) of Nevada voters have a Very Favorable opinion of Sandoval, while 11% view him Very Unfavorably.

For Reid, who serves now as chairman of the Clark County Board of Commissioners, Very Favorables are 20%, and Very Favorables are nearly double that at 38%.

Both candidates are well-known in the state, but at this point in a campaign, Rasmussen Reports considers the number of people with a strong opinion more significant than the total favorable/unfavorable numbers.

Thirty-two percent (32%) think the economy was helped by the $787-billion economic stimulus plan passed by Congress last year. Thirty-nine percent (39%) say the plan hurt the economy. This is a slightly more positive view of the stimulus plan than is found nationwide. 

But only 27% say the government spending in the stimulus plan created new jobs. Fifty-seven percent (57%) say no new jobs were created.

Fifty-eight percent (58%) think cutting taxes is a better way to create jobs than increased government spending. Twenty-five percent (25%) say more spending is a better idea.

Just 33% of Nevada voters approve of the job being done by Governor Jim Gibbons, one of those Sandoval defeated in the GOP Primary. Sixty-four percent (64%) disapprove.

Rasmussen Reports also has released recent polls on the 2010 governor's races in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon,   Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

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