Oh, how I live for the day when if she is mentioned at all, it’s as “former senator Susan Collins.” But that day is coming!
Guess who is the second-most unpopular senator in her home state? That would be Susan Collins, according to the latest Morning Consult poll. Collins is behind only Mitch McConnell nationally when it comes to disgust of home-state voters. Mitch will likely be re-elected in ruby red Kentucky, but Maine is a blue state, with both houses of the legislature Democratic and a very popular new Democratic governor. Lest you think Maine is just ornery and doesn’t like our senators, click over to the “most popular” senators link at the same poll. You’ll see Senator King, our progressive senator, has the best national ratings. Morning Consult is a highly rated national pollster, with a large pool of people being polled.
The other important news from the Collins front is on fundraising. Collins will have all the money she needs for a fight because of the deep pockets nationally for Senate Republicans. But what has changed is where the money is coming from. In previous elections, Collins received 30-40% of her funding from Maine donors. She had a strong base of support in the southern, more progressive region of the state. That support is gone. In the first quarter of fundraising this year, 1% of her donors were from Maine. In the second quarter, it was 3%. You can click through the links at Open Secrets to see how Maine donations for Collins have plummeted in the past few years. Contrast that with Sara Gideon, her likely Democratic challenger in 2020. Sara raised 1 million in a little over a week of fundraising when she announced in late June, nearly 50% of Collins’ total from Q2. And 25% of Sara’s fundraising was from Maine donors (over 2000 Maine donors contributed in the first week).
Unpopular, and the fairly robust grassroots support Collins enjoyed has disappeared. We’re fired up and ready to go in Maine!
If you like following the state of play in the Susan Collins senate race, I recommend @CollinsWatch on Twitter. Terrific updates on fundraising, media mentions, and analysis.