The second poll in just over a week showed Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner leading Gov. Janet Mills in a primary and Sen. Susan Collins in a hypothetical November matchup.
Platner, an oyster farmer from Sullivan, had 46% support among likely Democratic primary voters to 39% for Mills in the survey released Wednesday by Portland-based Pan Atlantic Research. He led Collins 44%-40% with 16% of voters undecided, while Mills and Collins were tied at 44% with 12% undecided.
Those results were good news for Platner but remained closer than a poll released last week that found him up 38 points on Mills, which changed the tone of a campaign that will be one of the biggest 2026 races in the country. Wednesday’s poll was generally bad for Republicans with President Donald Trump unpopular in the state.
Mills was a top recruit for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, but the two-term governor looks like an underdog due to the meteoric rise of Platner. The political newcomer was unknown when he launched his populist progressive campaign in August. He thrived despite a series of controversies that threatened his standing in the fall.
Platner has become quickly known in Maine, with 70% of people in the Pan Atlantic survey expressing an opinion about him. He has an advantage in the 41% of Mainers seeing him favorably versus 30% who see him unfavorably. Mills and Collins were 6 and 14 points underwater with the Maine electorate, respectively.
The newcomer was dominating the governor with men, younger voters and those in households making $100,000 or more. Mills is clinging to half of the women who expressed a preference in the Democratic primary and a narrow lead among voters 55 and older.
It looks like a difficult environment for Republicans here in a midterm year for Trump. He is seen unfavorably by nearly 6 in 10 voters. A whopping 75% of voters cited costs and inflation as a top issue. While Democrats and Republicans are split on Trump’s tariffs, 43% of independents oppose them to just 15% in support in a figure that held steady relative to a December poll.
The primaries for the open governor’s seat remain crowded and unsettled. The firmest support on the Democratic side went to former Maine public health chief Nirav Shah and former clean energy executive Angus King III, the son and namesake of the state’s junior U.S. senator. Lawyer Bobby Charles had a big lead on the large Republican field.
In Maine’s 2nd District, which will be vacated by four-term Democrat Jared Golden, state Sen. Joe Baldacci of Bangor had a large lead on two other candidates. The winner will be the likely underdog against former Gov. Paul LePage in November.
Platner was 10 points behind Mills in a Pan Atlantic poll from December. Mills and her allies invoked that while questioning the methodology of last week’s UNH survey, which had high samples of younger voters and self-described socialists. But the 41-year-old Platner has outraised her and only narrowly trailed her in the UNH poll with seniors.