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Maine U.S. Senate Race Highly Competitive, Poll Says

February 19, 2020

The 2020 U.S. Senate race in Maine is competitive, according to one newly released poll.

The poll put out by Colby College on Tuesday, February 18 showed that in a hypothetical matchup, incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins and Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon, a Democrat, are virtually tied.

It had Gideon leading by one point with 43 percent support and Collins trailing with 42 percent. However, that was within the 3-percentage-point margin of error, according to Bangor Daily News.

Additionally, 14 percent of likely voters surveyed are undecided in the race.

Gideon is the most likely nominee for the Democrats in Maine. According to Bangor Daily News, Gideon had 60 percent support in her party’s primary in the Colby College poll.

A statistical tie in the low 40s in a poll typically favors the challenger, because it implies that a majority of voters do not plan to vote for the incumbent, who is usually better known.

If re-elected, Collins would serve a fifth term.

Collins is considered one of the most vulnerable U.S. Senate Republicans because she is running for re-election in a state President Donald Trump lost in 2016.

Democrats are keying on Collins in large part because while she supports legal abortion she voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court in October 2018.


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