When last we left Susan Collins, the world's most useless "moderate," the Maine senator had helped free Donald Trump to crime some more. This wasn't the best choice for democracy or Collins's re-election hopes. A Colby College poll shows her effectively tied with likely Democratic challenger Sara Gideon. Collins won her last Senate race with 68 percent of the vote. She's now reduced to 42 percent to Gideon's 43. Fourteen percent of voters are undecided, and Collins can only hope they're like her — soberly weighing all options before choosing at the last minute to do whatever Mitch McConnell wants.
These are appalling numbers for an incumbent whose Senate career is old enough to vote against her. Maine is a small state. The people all know her and how much she sucks. Gideon has a better shot at winning over undecideds, especially women. Women just aren't feeling Suzy Creamcheese.
From the Portland Press Herald:
"One of the most surprising findings is how poorly Senator Collins is doing with women," said Dan Shea, Colby College professor of government and the lead researcher on the poll. "She had a 42-percent approval rating overall but that drops to 36 percent for women. Further yet, it drops to 25 percent for women under 50.
Yikes! It turns out there's a political price to pay when you help confirm a credibly accused attempted rapist to the Supreme Court or actively enable the criminal hijinks of the misogynist in chief.
Collins is also only at 38 percent among independents, a key voting bloc for her. She'd conned independent voters for years into believing she wasn't just a standard repulsive Republican and was a decent representative of an otherwise blue state. Now, they're starting to catch on to her three-card monte act.
The poll also asked voters who they'd pick in a race between Collins and Unknown Democrat with a paper bag over their head. Collins still only managed 40 percent, and Unknown Democrat's record isn't that impressive. Twenty-six percent of voters still can't decide if Collins's Senate career should live or die.
Trump's favorability rating is just 39 percent in the state. Collins hasn't given voters much of a reason to distinguish her from the president. Pollster Dan Shea argues that electoral politics have nationalized, and it's an "open question" whether a "Yankee Republican can survive" in a more polarized climate. I think Collins has let down Mainers whenever it mattered most. She can dress that up as "independence" rather than fealty to Trump and McConnell, but voters see through her.
Collins still has time to turn things around, so it's our job to make sure she doesn't. Donate to Sara Gideon here, and let's help show Collins the crappy end of election night.
[ Press Herald ]
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I hope the voters of Maine fire her in the upcoming election.
She presented herself in that mode: the new “conscience of the Senate.” Olympia Snowe was a more realistic Republican moderate from the get-go. Collins is pure moose shit.