PPP’s new Maine poll finds that voters in the state- across party lines- have concerns with Susan
Collins.

Her approval rating is only 24%, with 61% of voters disapproving of her. She faces strong
disapproval from both Harris (17/71) and Trump (30/52) voters alike.

Trump is unpopular in Maine too, with 44% of voters approving of him to 52% who disapprove.
A big part of Collins’ problem is that when it comes to Trump her approach is just antagonizing
everyone. 81% of Harris voters think she votes with Trump too often…and 73% of Trump voters
think she doesn’t vote with Trump often enough. Only 10% think she’s striking the right balance.

The feeling from both sides that Collins is letting them down leads to a rare poll finding in these
polarized times where voters across the aisle agree about something. Asked whether they consider
Collins to be a strong or weak leader majorities of both Harris (19/66) and Trump (28/51) voters
call her weak. Overall just 24% characterize her as strong with 59% calling her weak.

These findings are putting Collins in a position where she could be vulnerable next year both in a
Republican primary and the general election. 69% of Trump voters think Collins is ‘too liberal,’
presumably leaving her vulnerable to a challenge from someone to her right. But 69% of Harris
voters think she’s ’too conservative,’ suggesting she may also struggle to win the sort of
crossover support from Democratic leaning voters that’s fueled her success in the past.

Issues specific to Maine could spell particular trouble for the Republican brand in the state next
year. 65% of voters think their costs will go up because of the tariffs on Canada to only 27% who
think they won’t be affected. Even among Trump voters 26% grant that their costs will rise
because of his actions.

There’s always been a perception that even when Mainers disagreed with Collins they liked and
respected her. But in this poll her -46 net favorability rating (19/65) is 9 points worse even than
her -37 approval spread. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.

It will come down to who ends up deciding to challenge her- both on the Republican side and the
Democratic side. But Susan Collins appears to be in a very weak position personally headed into
what history suggests should probably be a strong 2026 election cycle for Democrats.

PPP interviewed 569 Maine voters on March 20th and 21st on behalf of Senate Majority PAC.
64% of surveys were conducted by text and 36% were conducted by phone. The margin of error
is +/-4.1%. Full results here