Rasmussen: Collins leads Bellows by 36 points

One week after she received historic endorsements from labor unions at Bath Iron Works, a Rasmussen poll released Monday shows Republican Sen. Susan Collins with a 36 point lead on Democratic challenger Shenna Bellows.

The Local S6 and S7 of the Machinists union, the Bath Marine Draftsmen’s Association and the Independent Guards Association all announced endorsements of Collins on Thursday, just prior to the Maine Republican convention in Bangor.

According to Collins’ campaign staff, this is the first time those unions have ever endorsed a Republican candidate. Earning the support of typically Democrat-supporting labor unions is a sign of Collins’ broad, bipartisan support and Rasmussen’s latest poll reflects the fact.

The poll was conducted by telephone last week of 830 likely voters and has a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.

“A new Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey finds that 60% of Likely Maine Voters support Collins, while her Democratic opponent, Shenna Bellows, earns 24% of the vote. Six percent (6%) like some other candidate in the race, and nine percent (9%) are undecided,” according to Rasmussen. Click here to see question wording.

Bellows, as the former president of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, is no stranger to Maine politics. But poll after poll has shown she’s a tremendous underdog to the powerful Republican incumbent.