Maine Senate Polls Show Susan Collins Trailing Democratic Challenger by 6-9 Points

U.S. Senate seat. A University of New Hampshire survey conducted May 21-25 among 1,250 likely voters showed Collins at 42 percent and Platner at 51 percent.

A Pan Atlantic SMS Group poll from May 8-18 among 827 likely voters placed Collins at 41 percent and Platner at 48 percent. A Collins spokesperson told Newsweek on Friday that polls were wrong in the past.

The spokesperson said every public poll in the previous election showed Collins losing and that pollsters have difficulty figuring out Maine Senate races. In 2020 Collins defeated Sara Gideon despite trailing in nearly every public poll. 5 points at the end of that race, yet Collins won with just under 51 percent of the vote.

Collins currently faces a larger deficit against Platner. Maine uses ranked-choice voting. Voters rank candidates, and if no one reaches 50 percent, the lowest vote-getter is eliminated and votes are redistributed until a candidate reaches a majority.

Reports emerged over the weekend that Platner's wife, Amy Gertner, warned campaign aides last year about sexually explicit messages he exchanged with other women. In a video posted on social media, Gertner defended her husband and said the couple worked through the issue in counseling. Platner has also faced scrutiny over a tattoo resembling the Totenkopf symbol used by the Nazi SS.

He apologized and told Newsweek he would not have kept the tattoo if he had known its meaning and is planning to have it removed. Past Reddit posts have drawn attention, including one in which Platner said he became a communist and another in which he stated that white people in rural America are racist and stupid. He told Politico last year that he made dumb jokes but is not a socialist.

Colby College political science professor Dan Shea said undecided Democrats and independents broke for Collins in 2020. Democrats view the seat as a top flip opportunity after Kamala Harris carried the state by about 7 percentage points in 2024. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 Senate majority, so Democrats need to flip four seats to regain control.