WASHINGTON — That new poll reported here yesterday showing a neck-and-neck contest between Secretary of State Robin Carnahan and U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt points to a campaign in which both aspirants will be running against Congress next year even as they run for it.

The survey by Public Policy Polling, which was released this morning, shows Carnahan, a Democrat, with 43 percent and Blunt, a Republican, with 42 percent – an unchanged picture since the same pollster looked ten months ago at the race shaping up for Missouri’s open Senate seat. The survey found 15 percent undecided.

Public Policy Polling, of North Carolina, is a Democratic-aligned company conducting surveys in selected states. The poll of 763 Missouri votes was taken from Nov. 13-15 and has a margin of error of 3.6 percent, the company said.

The new survey suggested that state Sen. Chuck Purgason, a Republican competing for the nomination, is having difficulty gaining traction.  Purgason trailed Blunt by a margin of 53-16 percent. He polled better against Carnahan, trailing 42-35 percent. 

Respondents had a better impression at this point of Carnahan; 40 percent said they viewed her favorably, 36 percent said unfavorably. The findings suggested that Blunt has even more work to do; 30 percent had a favorable impression of the veteran legislator from Springfield and former GOP leader in Congress while 38 percent view him unfavorably.

In a potentially worrisome finding for Blunt, 65 percent said they viewed him as part of the problem when it comes to deficits and government spending and 35 percent saw him as part of the solution.

“If Robin Carnahan had faced off against Roy Blunt in any election year between 1996 and 2008 she would likely have won given her superior popularity,” Dean Debnam, president of the company, said in a release. “But 2010 has the potential to be an extremely good year for Republicans, and that’s made this race highly competitive.”

The poll reflected a sour mood among Missourians as far as what is going on in Washington. Respondents gave President Barack Obama an approval rating of 43 percent — significantly lower than the 51.8 percent average of six major public opinion polls in recent days.  The president’s health care plan also faired poorly among Missourians, who said they oppose it by a margin of 55-34 percent.

Congress is held in especially low esteem. Fifty-eight percent said they had an unfavorable opinion of Democrats in Congress while congressional Republicans fared even poorer with a 62 percent unfavorability rating.

The survey showed a hard partisan landscape, with more than 4-of-5 Democrats saying they support Carnahan and a similar margin of Republicans planning to vote for Blunt. But Blunt held a 12 percent advantage among independents, suggesting that non-aligned voters could play a pivotal role in the outcome a year from now.

Blunt campaign spokesman Rich Chrismer noted that Blunt’s showing among independents was even better than a Rasmussen survey finding that independents favored Blunt over Carnahan by 8 points.

“We believe we are in an even better position than this poll suggests,” Chrismer said in a statement. “But even this Democrat firm is showing this is a very close race.”