Maine voters are more concerned about Sen. Susan Collins’ record of voting with Donald Trump than they are about her challenger Troy Jackson being too progressive.
That’s according to a new Fox News poll released Wednesday that gave Jackson, the Democratic former Maine Senate president, a slight edge overall in the U.S. Senate race against Collins, the five-term Republican incumbent.
Voters were asked: Regardless of how you plan to vote, how concerned are you that …
— Troy Jackson is too close to the Democratic Socialist movement?
— Susan Collins votes with Donald Trump too often?
On Jackson’s proximity to Democratic Socialists, 53% said they are either “not at all” or “not very” concerned, versus 43% who said they are “very” or “extremely” concerned.
On Collins’ record of voting with Trump, 55% said they are very or extremely concerned, versus 43% who said they are not very or not at all concerned.
Jackson supporters were more likely to say they are voting against Collins (61%), whereas Collins supporters largely said they are voting for her (71%), rather than against Jackson.
In overall preference, Jackson led Collins 48% to 46%, a slight shift from a June poll by Fox News in which voters gave Collins a slight edge over Jackson’s predecessor, Graham Platner 50% to 47%, suggesting that Jackson has managed to capture the progressive groundswell around Platner without taking on the baggage of the scandal-plagued candidate.
More voters backing Collins said they are committed to voting for her, versus one in five Jackson supporters who said they might change their mind before voting in November.
Roughly nine out of 10 Democrats and Republicans support their respective candidate, while independents prefer Jackson by a small margin.
The poll was conducted Aug. 6-10 by landline, cell phone and text message (directed to an online poll) with a sample of 1,000 Maine registered voters randomly selected from a statewide voter file, according to Fox News. Results based on the full sample have a margin of error of ± 3 percentage points.
