New poll gives Graham Platner wide lead over Janet Mills in Democratic primary

Insurgent candidate Graham Platner maintains a strong lead over Gov. Janet Mills in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary race.

That’s according to a new poll from Emerson College in Boston released Thursday morning, making it the latest sign that the term-limited governor may face an uphill fight to secure her party’s nomination to take on Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins this November.

In the Emerson College poll, Platner has the support of 55% of likely primary voters, compared with 28% for Mills. That’s a 27-point lead for the Sullivan oyster farmer.

That’s more narrow than the University of New Hampshire’s latest Pine Tree State Poll, released in late February, which gave him a 38-point lead. In that poll, Platner commanded strong support among progressive and socialist-leaning voters and evenly split liberal voters with Mills. But the Emerson College poll gives Platner a more commanding lead than a March poll from Portland-based Pan Atlantic Research that showed him with a 7-point edge over Mills.

“Graham Platner has a significant lead over Governor Mills, which is outside the poll’s margin of error,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said in a statement accompanying the poll. “Male voters support Platner by a 41-point margin, 63% to 22%, while women support Platner by an 18-point margin, 50% to 32%.”

His gains in the polls came despite a barrage of bad press last fall.

Platner’s campaign was beset with controversy over unearthed inflammatory internet posts and a chest tattoo depicting a skull superimposed over crossbones, resembling the Totenkopf symbol adopted by the Nazi SS during World War II.

Platner denied knowing that his tattoo was a Nazi symbol. He got the tattoo in 2007 while deployed abroad with the U.S. Marines. While on leave, Platner and other Marines went to Croatia, where they got “very inebriated” and decided to get tattoos. He said that they all picked “terrifying” designs off the wall.

He has since gotten it covered.

At the same time, his campaign saw a number of high-level departures, including his national financial director, treasurer, campaign manager and political director.

Despite the barrage of negative headlines, Platner vowed to stay in the race.

The Mills campaign has leaned heavily on Platner’s online comments, featuring them in two recent attack ads in a bid to build a strong base among likely female voters. The first ad appeared in the middle of last week, while the second dropped Tuesday. The Emerson College poll was conducted March 21-23.

Mills has said that Republicans would make “mincemeat” of Platner if he emerges as the party’s standard-bearer for the November election.

Democrats already face an uphill battle to unseat Collins, who officially announced her historic bid for a sixth term in February. She has handily beaten back challengers, including in 2020 when she defied polls and expectations to secure a fifth term in the Senate. But Collins, once ranked the country’s most bipartisan senator, has seen her popularity slump since Republican President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House.

Republicans are largely aligned with Collins, who commands 67% support among likely voters in the Republican primary, according to that February Pine Tree State Poll.

The Senate race is shaping up to be an expensive one, with the Senate Leadership Fund, a Republican super PAC, pledging last month to spend at least $42 million to help Collins defend her seat. If Collins is successful in winning a sixth term, she would be Maine’s longest-serving U.S. senator.