Politics
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A new poll commissioned by the Democratic leadership-tied Senate Majority PAC suggests Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins faces a tougher environment for reelection than she did in 2020.
Fifty-two percent of respondents disapproved of the five-term senator’s job performance, compared with 46% who approved, according to a survey of more than 800 likely voters by Washington, D.C.-based Hart Research. In three summer polls by the group in 2020, Collins’ approval rating averaged a split of 48% approving and 48% disapproving, according to a memo on the poll shared with Bangor Daily News.
Meanwhile, Collins’ favorability is underwater at 48% with a favorable view and 52% unfavorable. The Democratic nominee, former state Senate President Troy Jackson, has a net positive favorability rating of 12 points, with 47% viewing him favorably and 35% negatively. A poll by the firm around this time in 2020 showed voters leaned unfavorable by one point on Collins’ opponent, former Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon.
“This environment is nothing like 2020, and the numbers tell the story,” Senate Majority PAC press secretary Christyna Thompson said in a statement. “What carried her across the finish line before won’t cut it when Mainers continue to struggle and Collins refuses to step up. Republicans should be alarmed by how badly the deck is stacked against them.”
Republican and Democratic consultants alike have questioned polling results in Maine this year and noted Collins won handily over Gideon despite being outpolled throughout 2020. But with 90 days before Election Day and Democrats relying on Jackson and others to help retake the Senate, Hart Research made the case that Mainers are deeply frustrated with President Donald Trump, whose agenda Jackson has sought to tie to Collins.
Trump’s unpopularity in the state presents “a much bigger drag” on the senator’s prospects, the firm said. At least 61% of Mainers disapprove of the president’s performance, an uptick of 6 percentage points from 2020. By an 18-point margin, 54% to 36%, respondents said they preferred a Democratic majority in the Senate, specifically to help blunt Trump.
State and national Republicans have blasted Jackson’s nomination after he replaced scandal-plagued Graham Platner, who bowed out of the race after being accused of rape. They’ve argued the GOP is energized, claimed Maine Democrats are in a state of dysfunction and placed both Platner and Jackson at the center of a national debate over the future of the Democratic Party.
“Every single public poll last election showed Senator Collins losing her reelection, and every single poll was wrong,” Shawn Roderick, a Collins campaign spokesman, said earlier this year.
The Hart Research poll showed a tight race but Jackson leading by four percentage points, 49% to 45%, just over the margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Jackson’s lead will increase, the survey suggested, as voters weigh the negatives against both candidates.
The latest public poll from the University of New Hampshire also showed a close race, with Jackson leading 49% to Collins’ 46%. Collins had led Platner in a few polls shortly before he dropped out. Platner had led several polls against Collins earlier in the year.
Collins and her team have highlighted her track record of bringing federal dollars to Maine and cast her years in office as steady and bipartisan. Republicans have also sought to tie Jackson to the turmoil around Platner’s many controversies.
Jackson’s campaign, which he’s ramped up after finishing third in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in June, has focused on lowering costs, universal health care and tax overhauls targeting the wealthy. He also has painted Collins as ineffective against overreach from the White House.
