Politics
Our political journalists are based in the Maine State House and have deep source networks across the partisan spectrum in communities all over the state. Their coverage aims to cut through major debates and probe how officials make decisions. Read more Politics coverage here.
Nearly four in 10 Mainers hold a positive view of socialism, according to a University of New Hampshire poll released Wednesday.
That term, once radioactive in national politics, has become a watch word in Maine’s crucial U.S. Senate race. Republican Sen. Susan Collins has tried to affix the term to newly minted Democratic nominee Troy Jackson, the former Maine Senate president and a longtime ally of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-described “democratic socialist.”
The poll, which was released alongside similar ones in both New Hampshire and Vermont, found 39% of Mainers view socialism positively, while 45% view it negatively. Capitalism fared significantly better at 48% positive and 37% negative.
On this question, Maine landed predictably between Republican-led New Hampshire, where 35% view socialism positively and 56% view capitalism positively, and the heavily Democratic Vermont, where 50% of residents viewed socialism positively compared with just 42% who feel that way about capitalism.
The findings track with national polling. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in January found about a third of Democrats and left-leaning independents say they like political leaders who identify as democratic socialists, while a majority say they neither like nor dislike them.
That national survey also found the warmest views among younger and college-educated Democrats, a pattern that mirrors the generational split showing up in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
About half of Mainers under 50 hold a negative view of capitalism and a positive view of socialism, while less than a third of those 50 and older feel positively about socialism. Pew found a similar gap nationally, with 39% of Democrats under 30 saying they like leaders who identify as democratic socialists, compared with 26% of those 50 and older.
The numbers arrived after Collins called Jackson a “Bernie bro” and socialist after he effectively locked down the Democratic nomination that he clinched formally at last weekend’s party convention in Bangor to replace one-time ally Graham Platner on the ballot following a rape allegation that forced Platner from the race.
The Republican National Committee made the attack line explicit Saturday, calling Jackson’s nomination proof “Democrats are willing to shove socialism down the throats of Maine voters.”
Jackson spent his early Legislature years representing the socially conservative St. John Valley, backing abortion restrictions and opposing gun control and same-sex marriage, before shifting to a reliable vote for abortion rights, gun control and LGBTQ+ rights. He has parried questions about political labels early in his U.S. Senate campaign.
“I don’t know what I am, I don’t really care,” he said at the convention. “What I am is a guy from northern Maine. People can call me anything they want … and they have.”