A new Public Policy Polling survey in Maine finds Sara Gideon leading Sen. Susan Collins in the U.S. Senate race by 4 points, 46% to 42%.
Brutal numbers for the incumbent: Just 36% of voters approving of the job Collins is doing, while 55% disapprove.
In the presidential race, Joe Biden leads Donald Trump, 53% to 42%.
Ron Brownstein notes that despite assurances from Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) that he views abortion rights as “settled law,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh voted to severely restrict abortion access in Louisiana in the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this morning.
A new Victory Geek poll in Maine finds Sara Gideon (D) leading Sen. Susan Collins (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 51% to 42%.
“Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Sara Gideon raised $7.1 million during the first quarter of 2020, surpassing Republican Sen. Susan Collins after the incumbent had already set a record for the most fundraising during a Maine campaign,” the Bangor Daily News reports.
A new Critical Insights poll in Maine finds a further drop in approval for Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) since last fall, from 42% to 37%, while the share of voters who disapproved of her performance climbed to 52%.
In contrast, Sen. Angus King (I-ME) remained popular, with 59% of voters approving of his performance.
President Trump’s approval in Maine is just 36%.
A new Colby College poll in Maine finds Sara Gideon (D) edging Sen. Susan Collins (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 43% to 42%.
Key takeaway: “Among women, 36% said that they would vote for Ms. Collins, compared with 49% who said they would support Ms. Gideon. Ms. Collins’s support among women younger than 50 was even worse, with 25% saying that they would vote for her, compared with 56% who said they would support Ms. Gideon.”
“Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), appearing in Maine for the first time since her vote not to impeach President Trump, said that she disapproves of retribution against anyone who came forward with evidence during the process,” the Portland Press Herald reports.
Said Collins: “I’m obviously not in favor of any kind of retribution against anyone who came forward with evidence.”
“A U.S. Senate candidate in Maine has selected an unusual logo for campaign T-shirts – the guillotine – citing the need for a revolution to remove big money from politics,” the Portland Press Herald reports.
A mysterious Hawaii company may have illegally funneled a six-figure contribution to a political group boosting embattled Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) 5,000 miles away, the Daily Beast reports.
“There is scant public information about the company. It does not appear to have a website or any social media presence. Its listed address is a P.O. box in Honolulu… Google searches turn up no information on the company. And there’s no record of prior political involvement by its sole officer, Jennifer Lam.”
Michael Bloomberg, who took his presidential campaign to Maine, said he would actively back his party’s challenger to Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) despite past donations to her, the Bangor Daily News reports.
He said he backed Collins in previous elections because of her general support for expanding background checks for gun purchases.
A new Garin-Hart-Yang (D) poll in Maine finds 53% of voters think President Trump is guilty of abusing the power of his office for his personal benefit by withholding military aid to Ukraine.
Among independent voters — a key group for Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who is up for re-election — 57% said Trump is guilty of abusing the power of his office.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) was caught on video flatly denying that she had accepted campaign contributions from both the Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharmaceuticals, and drug company giant Eli Lilly.
Collins has, in fact, received contributions from both sources.
Politico: “The outside group Maine Momentum is dramatically escalating its bombardment of Collins over the last weeks of December, honing in on the second anniversary of the GOP’s tax reform law that Collins (R-Maine) supported in 2017, which Democrats believe is a vulnerability in her likely race against statehouse Speaker Sara Gideon.”
“The group planned to run $60,000 in ads over the next three weeks focusing on the law. But the group behind the buy is tripling its investment over the end of the year: Now instead of $180,000 over a three-week period, the group will now spend $540,000 on the ad, punctuating the edge Democrats currently have on the airwaves in the state.”
Politico: “Her reelection contest is already on track to be the state’s most expensive race ever. And Trump is eager to compete for the state’s four Electoral College votes with a campaign aimed at white, working-class voters.”
“If she votes to acquit the president, the state’s resurgent Democratic Party and its national allies are likely to clobber her as out of step with the state’s light blue hue. And if she votes to remove Trump from office after a Senate trial, she’ll risk dampening support from the conservative base and raising the ire of the president himself.”
Portland Press Herald: “Gideon has shown early success tapping into the smaller-dollar, online donations that experts say are increasingly important in competitive races… Maine voters won’t select the next senator for more than a year, but Collins and Gideon – Maine’s House speaker and the best-funded Democrat in the race – have already amassed more contributions than all but one other U.S. Senate race in the state’s history and every other House and gubernatorial contest.”
“And with nearly $13 million in combined donations so far, the candidates will easily surpass the $14 million raised by Collins and her 2008 opponent, former U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, by the end of the year.”
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Maine shows Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) has a dismal 35% to 50% approval rating.
Collins trails a generic Democrat for reelection 41% to 44%. That represents a big drop for Collins compared to a September poll when she led a generic Democrat by 6 points at 44% to 38%.
Also interesting is that 53% of Mainers support impeaching President Trump with 44% opposed. When asked who they would choose if Collins opposed impeachment, she goes from a 3-point deficit against a generic Democratic opponent for reelection to a 7-point deficit at 40% to 47%.
“Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) presidential campaign is putting resources into Maine, where it hopes to help unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in one of the most high-profile Senate races of this cycle,” the Daily Beast reports.
“A new memo sent to supporters… details a series of investments on state directors and organizers for states that vote and caucus in March. The campaign is devoting these resources not just to boost Warren ahead of primary voting but to assist Democrats in marquee Senate, House, and state legislative contests in 2020.”
First-term Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) said he’s not going to take sides in next year’s U.S. Senate race, the Portland Press Herald reports.
“Golden said he respects both U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, and the leading Democratic challenger, state House Speaker Sara Gideon, a Freeport Democrat.”
“But his rationale for steering clear of the race has less to do with his feelings about the candidates than it does with his commitment to maintaining a good working relationship with whomever wins in November 2020.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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