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The intense media scrutiny and Republican attacks facing Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner of Maine over his controversial and inflammatory past online comments and his now-removed but well-publicized tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol don’t appear to be slowing him down.
A new public opinion poll shows Platner holding an upper single-digit lead over longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine in a race that is among a handful that will likely decide if the GOP holds its slim 53-47 majority in the Senate in this year’s midterm elections.
Platner, a progressive candidate backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, stands at 51% support among likely Maine voters, with Collins at 42%, in a Pine Tree State poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire. Six percent of respondents were undecided, with 2% backing other candidates.
The survey is the latest public opinion poll to indicate Platner, an oyster farmer and Army and Marine veteran who served in combat in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, leading Collins, a moderate Republican who is seeking a sixth six-year term in the Senate representing left-leaning Maine.
WHAT MAINE VOTERS TOLD FOX NEWS DIGITAL ABOUT GRAHAM PLATNER’S CONTROVERSIES
Graham Platner, the Democrats’ presumptive Senate nominee in Maine, holds an energy event in Ellsworth, Maine on Monday, May 11, 2026. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
Ninety-one percent of Democrats questioned said they’d vote for Platner in the general election, with 87% of Republicans backing Collins. The senator held a slight 47%-44% edge over Platner for the support of independents.
The poll was released two weeks ahead of Maine’s primary.
Platner is considered the Democrats’ presumptive nominee after two-term Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who was backed by Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer and other establishment leaders, suspended her campaign a month ago. Mills cited fundraising concerns and polling…
