Collins trails Democratic challenger by 5 points: poll

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) trails her Democratic challenger Sara Gideon by 5 points in a new poll of the Maine Senate race. 

The Colby College survey finds Gideon, the state House Speaker, with 44 percent support, compared with 39 percent for Collins. Twelve percent of respondents are undecided, and 6 percent say they’ll vote for a third party. 

Collins is among the most vulnerable GOP senators up for reelection this year as Republicans seek to maintain their majority in the upper chamber.

Gideon raised $8 million in the second quarter, more than twice what Collins brought in. 

The Colby College survey found that 42 percent of Maine voters have a favorable view of Collins, compared with 51 percent who view her unfavorably. Gideon is at 46 percent positive and 36 percent negative.

Collins has at times sought to distance herself from President Trump, but Democrats have worked to cast her as a rubber stamp for his agenda, highlighting her vote for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

The survey found that 46 percent of voters describe Collins as usually siding with Republicans but also independent-minded. Thirty-nine percent say Collins nearly always sides with Republicans and is not independent-minded, while 15 percent described her as completely independent and not beholden to either party.

The Trump campaign has identified Maine as one of four states the president lost in 2016 that he hopes to win in 2020. Democrat Hillary Clinton carried the statewide vote in Maine by 3 points, or about 22,000 votes, in 2016.

The poll finds presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden leading Trump by 12 points statewide, 50 to 38.

Trump’s favorability rating is at 39 positive and 59 negative. Biden is at 51 positive and 44 negative. 

The survey of 888 likely voters was conducted between July 15 and July 20 and has a 3.9 percentage point margin of error.