Oysterman Graham Platner Is Leading the Maine Senate Primary by 20 Points: New Poll
The populist candidate isn’t just weathering scandals – he has a massive lead in the state's Dem primary, according to a new poll.
Graham Platner, the populist oyster farmer and veteran running for Senate in Maine, is leading Governor Janet Mills in the Democratic primary by 20 points, according to a new poll.
The poll – conducted on behalf of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which endorsed Platner on Wednesday – is the latest indicator that Platner has weathered a wave of negative news stories in his bid to take on Republican Senator Susan Collins. Platner first faced scrutiny over controversial comments he made about women and race in the past on Reddit, and then more jarringly about a skull-and-crossbones tattoo he had for many years that resembled a Nazi symbol. (He’s apologized for some of his comments and covered his tattoo.)
Platner isn’t merely surviving those scandals – he appears to have a commanding lead over the state’s two-term governor, Mills, who was recruited into the race with support from Senate Democratic leaders. Though the primary is six months away, the PCCC poll results mesh with the vibes on the ground in Maine. Mills, 77, is leading a relatively quiet campaign so far, while Platner, 41, is consistently holding packed town-hall events all over the state.
Speaking on a Zoom call for PCCC supporters on Wednesday, Platner said the polling “lays clear what our theory is, which is that we are not going to defeat Susan Collins running the same exact kind of playbook that we’ve run in the past – which is an establishment politician supported by the power structures, supported by Washington DC, coming up to Maine and trying to run a kind of standard race … We are really trying to build a grassroots movement up here. We need to build power again for working people, both in Maine and nationally.”
This is not the first survey to show Platner with a significant lead, but this one was conducted after the scandals dominated several news cycles nationally and in Maine. Only 15% of likely Democratic primary voters view Platner unfavorably, while 20% hold an unfavorable view of Mills. The poll tested negative messages against both Platner and Mills, as well as the campaign’s expected response – and found Platner’s lead expands after voters hear both critiques.
As part of its poll, Z to A Research surveyed 845 likely Democratic primary voters.
“Platner isn’t just leading in the Democratic primary. He’s leading by a lot, 20 points – 58% are supporting him,” Z to A pollster Nancy Zdunkewicz said Wednesday. “Only 38% are supporting Mills. There are very few undecided voters or weak supporters for Mills to win over at this point in the race. This is really impressive early consolidation.”
A reporter asked Platner on Wednesday to explain how he’s going to continue maintaining support when his opponents begin using his past controversies as sound bites against him. He noted that Maine’s population is small, and said the way his campaign will get through it is by building up its ground game and continuing to hold town halls throughout the state.
“That’s how you fight it – by building a movement, building power, and then engaging with people directly,” Platner said, adding: “Those attacks, they were coming anyways. I’m pushing for Medicare for All. [They’re] gonna call me a communist. I’m an out-and-out anti-fascist, and somebody somewhere is going to come along and try to turn that around into some left-wing radicalism.”
He continued: “These things are bound to happen. I think a lot of people in Maine, as the polling shows … a lot of people see all of this as nonsense – the negative attack ads, we’ve been doing this for decades at this point, and everybody’s sick and tired of it. I think what people really want is a politics that is going to engage with them and be engaged by them.”
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