Graham Platner Holds Double-Digit Lead on Mills, Collins in Maine Senate Race
Caroline Vakil The Hill
Graham Platner speaks at a rally. (photo: TNR)
A University of New Hampshire Survey Center Pine Tree State poll released on Tuesday showed Platner leading Mills 64 percent to 26 percent, with 6 percent undecided or who didn’t know. That’s a 4-point increase in Platner’s margin since October when a similar poll had Platner at 58 percent and Mills at 24 percent, with 14 percent saying they didn’t know or were undecided.
Platner also comfortably leads Collins in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup at 49 percent to her 38 percent, with 9 percent saying they didn’t know or were undecided and 4 percent saying another candidate. Platner notably holds a 9-point edge over Collins among independents.
Meanwhile, a hypothetical matchup between Mills and Collins shows the two neck and neck, with the Maine governor at 41 percent and the GOP senator at 40 percent. A separate 10 percent said they didn’t know or were undecided while 9 percent said another candidate. Because it falls within the poll’s 2.9-point margin of error, the two are effectively tied. In that matchup, Collins holds a 6-point edge among independents over Mills.
Most public polling has shown Platner beating Mills in the highly contested Democratic primary to take on Collins.
While Mills has leaned on the fact that she’s won statewide as a Democrat in the Pine Tree State and has taken on President Trump, Platner has only seemed to continue to remain politically resilient despite heavy scrutiny last year over a number of now-deleted social media posts in which he criticized law enforcement and downplayed sexual assault — comments for which he has since distanced himself from.
He lost several members of his campaign staff amid the turmoil, further roiling his Senate bid. Yet the polling has suggested incidents that would have once been a huge political liability for the candidate may not totally erode his support in the race.
Democrats see Maine’s Senate seat as a key pickup opportunity, though ousting Collins has not been easy as she’s proved to be a formidable opponent.
The University of New Hampshire Pine Tree State poll was conducted between Feb. 12 and Feb. 16, with 1,162 Maine residents completing the survey online. There were 1,120 likely voters included in the sample. The overall margin of error is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. There were 478 likely Democratic primary voters polled, with a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points and 406 like GOP primary voters polled, with a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.
