According to a new Pine Tree State Poll, a States of Opinion Project conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, Graham Platner has a 73 percent favorability rating among likely voters in Maine’s Democratic primary.
Incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R), on the other hand, has a 65 percent favorability rating among those who are likely to vote in Maine’s Republican primary election.
In a head-to-head match up, Platner holds a several point lead over Sen. Collins, albeit by a slightly smaller margin than several months ago, as more undecided voters have moved to support the sitting senator, as well as some of those who were previously interested in supporting another candidate.
For Maine’s gubernatorial race, former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson and former Director of the Maine Centers for Disease Control Nirav Shah are neck-and-neck in the Democratic primary, as former Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Robert Charles holds a strong lead on the Republican side.
Earlier this year, Shah was shown to hold a sizable lead over Jackson, but they are now tied as several percentage points worth of support have shifted away from Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.
Both former Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives Hannah Pingree and energy executive Angus King III also appear to have gained some support but to a much less notable degree.
Many of these changes can likely be attributed to the fact that the share of undecided voters is now less than half of what it was earlier this year.
Among Republicans, Charles’ lead has remained consistent with support expanding from 28 percent to 37 percent.
That said, healthcare executive Jonathan Bush has gained significant ground over the past several months, going from controlling just 5 percent of the field to 18 percent.
Also gaining ground was businessman Ben Midgley, who nearly doubled his support from 6 percent to 11 percent.
Former Maine Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason lost ground over the past several months, however, with the share of respondents expressing interest in voting for him in the primary dropping from 12 percent to 9 percent.
Most of these changes are likely due to the massive drop in the share of voters expected to participate in the Republican primary who are unsure of the candidate they want to support, as this figure has plummeted from 31 percent to just 9 percent.
This survey has a margin of error of +/- 2.6 percent. 1,397 Mainers completed the survey between May 21 and May 25.
595 likely Democratic primary voters were included in the sample, as well as 465 likely Republican primary voters.
Click Here to Read the Full Results of the Poll
Early voting for the June 9, 2026 primary election has already begun.
Requests for an absentee ballot must be received by a voter’s municipality by the close of business on Thursday, June 4. In-person absentee voting will be available through this same date.
Maine citizens who are not yet registered to vote may do so until the close of polls on election day.
Anyone who is unsure of their voter registration status may contact their local municipal clerk’s office to check.
Contact information for all Maine municipal clerks and registrars is available here. A statewide online lookup tool is not currently available.
The June 9 primary election will make use of ranked choice voting, meaning that voters will have the option to express support on their ballot for multiple candidates.
In the event that one candidate does not receive at least 50 percent of the votes cast, the candidate with the least amount of votes will be knocked out of the running. Votes will then be distributed to whichever candidates were marked as a second choice on ballots cast by those supporting the eliminated candidate.
This process continues until one candidate emerges with majority support.
When filling out a ranked choice ballot, voters may rank multiple candidates, vote only for a first choice selection, or fill out all ranking slots in favor of one candidate.
Click Here for More Information on the Upcoming Primary Election
Susan Collins has lost her base support among moderate Republicans, the MAGA crowd doesn’t like her, and liberals hate her. Should be an interesting race. If you are curious about Graham Platner’s support, watch his interview with Jon Stewart.
Glad to see Delia is voting for a NAZI. Collins has not lost support from the MAGA crowd or anyone else.
Anyone that thinks democrats care about affordability, lowering prices etc has not been paying attention the last 8 years. What they do care about is punishing success, raising taxes on small businesses, boys in your daughters locker room. illegals and making life as difficult as possible.
Racist, check. Sexist, check. Anti-Semitic, check. Denigrating fisherman, rural voters, Purple Heart soldiers, and the military in general, check. Praising terrorist, check. All will be ignored by local Democrats and the Bangor Daily News for towing The Party line.
So how many votes is the antisemite buying with his ill gotten gains from his daddy? At least Collins is consistent, even if she isn’t really a full Republican.
Platner is a loser .
Now , before and in the future .
Maine voters have proven themselves stupid before , but they are not stupid enough to get rid of Collins in favor of Platner .
Collins will continue as she has for many years , bring lots of federal money to Maine .
Platner will bring loud talk and rallies with Bernie Sanders and Pocahontas Warren .
Collins WILL defeat Platner in November .
Listen to the political ads on TV. They all say only 1 thing “I’ll fight DT” see that’s because the cant run on anything else. All the problems mentioned other than DT were caused by them, haven’t been fixed by them, won’t be fixed by them. DT will be out of office in 2 years then what? Were stuck with people who have already proven they are the tax payer’s worst enemy. Really, people can’t be this stupid.
Polls can see the future!
They predicted the Trump presidential failures didn’t they……………Wait. What?
NEVER MIND.
Collins made the strategic decision, by her actions, to trade my vote for some Maine moderate. By not backing Trump cabinet nominees. not supporting the SAVE act,and supporting all Biden cabinet nominees, I can not in good conscience vote for her anymore.
Hey Andy this what you will get if Collins is not reelected, Delia this is your boyhttps://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/05/a-response-to-graham-platner.php
The race is tight between a secretly well-heeled (rich daddy) Nazi and a less than luke-warm RINO? The RNC was stupid and incompetent in not dealing with her years ago and running someone who knows what it means to be Republican.
Hopefully the people of Maine will not humiliate themselves by giving this reckless, impulsive man a seat in the US Senate!
She’s going to beat him like a red headed step child. As a Republican, I’ll hold my nose and vote for her.