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Intense media scrutiny and Republican attacks against Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner of Maine over his controversial and inflammatory online comments and his erased but well-publicized tattoo of a Nazi symbol on his chest don’t seem to be slowing him down.
A new public opinion poll shows Platner holding a single-digit lead over longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine in a midterm race that could determine whether the GOP retains its slim 53-47 majority in the Senate in the midterm elections.
Platner, a progressive candidate backed by Sen. Vermont’s Bernie Sanders has 51% support among likely Maine voters, while Collins has 42%, in a Pine Tree State poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire. Six percent of respondents were undecided, while 2% supported other people.
The poll is the latest public opinion poll to show Platner, an oyster farmer and an Army and Marine veteran who fought in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, leading Collins, a moderate Republican seeking a sixth six-year Senate term from left-leaning Maine.
WHAT MAINE VOTERS ARE SAYING FOX NEWS DIGITAL ABOUT GRAHAM PLTNER’S PROBLEMS
Graham Platner, elected to the Senate by the Democrats who are in charge of Maine, held a power event in Ellsworth, Maine on Monday, May 11, 2026. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
Ninety-one percent of Democrats polled said they would vote for Platner in the general election, while 87% of Republicans supported Collins. The parliamentarian holds a narrow 47%-44% edge over Platner for the support of independents.
The polls were released two weeks before the Maine primary.
Platner is considered to have been nominated by the Democrats after two-term Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who was supported by Senate Democratic Leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer and other party leaders suspended his campaign last month. Mills cited fundraising concerns and voting issues for his decision to end his bid. But the governor’s name will remain on the first ballot.
According to the poll, Platner stands at 76% support for the Democratic nomination, with Mills at 10% and longtime Senate challenger David Costello of Brunswick, who has spent decades in state and federal government, at 3%.
Collins is unopposed for the Republican Senate nomination.
PLATNER COMMUNICATED THROUGH THE PREVIOUS ONLINE COMMUNICATION
Platner, who represents a populist economic agenda as he aims to influence unions and advocate for the working class as he runs for Senate, has been criticized by Collins and other Republicans as too extreme in Maine.
“I believe that will be the fate of the voters of Maine. But, obviously, I’m not taking anything for granted,” Collins said when asked in a Fox News Digital interview earlier this month if Platner is too far to the left.
But Platner, in an interview with Fox News Digital later in the week, said, “The biggest thing is someone like Susan Collins, who for decades now, has made sure that we pass policies that will help corporations and billions of dollars in the languages of working people, repeatedly supporting illegal and insane foreign wars.”
Platner, amid a flurry of media coverage, has come under fire from Republicans in recent weeks for his controversial speech from a decade ago, after he returned from a tour of combat, and the latest comments of the decade, which he made on Reddit.
WHAT GRAHAM PLTNER SAID IN A DIGITAL INTERVIEW FOR FOX NEWS
Platner apologized for his controversial Reddit posts after he made headlines last week after launching his Senate campaign.
But facing Fox News Digital last week near his home in Maine, Platner refused to apologize to voters and the Purple Heart recipient when asked about a since-deleted Reddit post in which he said a wounded soldier “didn’t deserve to live.”
Meanwhile, Platner said he got the skull and crossbones tattoo in 2007 while drinking with other Croatian Marines. He said he covered the tattoo with a new design after learning last year that it resembled a Nazi symbol.
DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY INFORMED WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB
It’s not just Republicans targeting Platner over the comments and tattoo. A few Democrats are also speaking out. Democratic Rep. Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts this week reiterated his criticism of Platner.
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“As I’ve said months ago, I find Platner’s Nazi tattoo and his comments inappropriate,” Auchincloss wrote Tuesday on social media. “If it were me, I would vote for someone else in the Maine Democratic primary.”
The Pine Tree Poll was conducted May 21-25, with an overall sampling error of plus or minus 2.6 points.
