HARRISBURG -- "Hardball" is on MSNBC every weeknight, but Pennsylvanians must be watching something else.

According to poll results released yesterday, a whopping 60 percent say they haven't heard enough about "Hardball" host Chris Matthews to say what they think of him. But 21 percent said they have a favorable opinion of Mr. Matthews, a Democrat who is considering a 2010 run against U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. Seventeen percent said they have an unfavorable opinion.

If Mr. Matthews were to run today, Mr. Specter would trounce him 45 percent to 33 percent, the Quinnipiac University poll showed. That's up from 41 percent to 36 percent in August, when state voters responded to the same poll question.

"That reflects Sen. Specter's strength and respect in the state, and that six out of 10 voters really don't know Chris Matthews very well," said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Mr. Matthews, 62, is a political commentator and former speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter and was a top aide to former U.S. House Speaker Tip O'Neill. He ran unsuccessfully for U.S. House in 1974.

He is a Pennsylvania native and the brother of Jim Matthews, a Republican who ran for lieutenant governor in 2006.

After Republican candidates' poor showings nationwide in this month's elections, Democratic Party leaders are zeroing in on GOP-held seats they view as winnable in 2010.

Mr. Richards said his poll's results show it could be difficult to wrench Mr. Specter's seat away.

"Those who think the Republican Party is dead don't know Pennsylvania and don't know Arlen Specter," Mr. Richards told statehouse reporters yesterday.

"He's a man ... who's been there on the scene, who has a record of bipartisanship and whose battle against cancer can only be described as heroic," he said.

Fifty-six percent of poll respondents said they had a favorable opinion of Mr. Specter, and 23 percent said they had an unfavorable opinion.

The Quinnipiac poll did not ask voters opinions of others who are thought to be contenders for the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat, including U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, state Rep. Josh Shapiro and U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz.

The poll did ask for opinions of other elected officials.

Gov. Ed Rendell has a 55 percent approval rating, up 2 percentage points from a year ago. His rating is highest, 86 percent, in his home city of Philadelphia. In Allegheny County, his approval rating is 44 percent.

Respondents gave the state Legislature a 39 percent approval rating, up 9 percentage points from a year ago.

They gave Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. an approval rating of 55 percent, up from 49 percent a year ago.

The poll surveyed 1,487 voters and has a theoretical margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

Complete poll results are available at www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml.