Collins closes gap, pulls to a tie with embattled Democrat Platner in Maine Senate race: new poll

Platner has faced a litany of scandals in recent weeks, including over extramarital sexting, rape-related comments, and a tattoo featuring Nazi symbolism.

Published: June 5, 2026 9:37am

Updated: June 5, 2026 1:27pm

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Democratic challenger Graham Platner are in a dead heat for the November Senate election, according to a recent survey.

Platner has faced a litany of scandals since he started his campaign, including having a tattoo featuring Nazi symbolism, and increased in recent days and weeks with revelations about sexually inappropriate social media posts and extramarital sexting.

Platner and Collins each earned 46% support among likely voters, with 8% undecided in the latest survey from Fabrizio, Lee & Associates, a Trump-aligned pollster. Among those voters, 39% said they would "definitely vote for Collins, while 40% said they would "definitely" vote for Platner. Politico first obtained the survey.

The most recent RealClearPolitics.com polls average has Planter leading by 7.4%.

Platner's scandals appear to have contributed to the narrowing of the contest. In January of this year, 35% viewed him favorably while 29% held an unfavorable view of the candidate. In the June survey, however, 40% viewed him favorably compared to 49% who viewed him unfavorably.

The survey was conducted June 1-3 among 800 likely voters with a 3.5% margin of error.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent for Just the News. Follow him on X.

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