Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s social media history is a major general election liability, a new Democratic polling memo warns.
The survey, conducted on behalf of the Democratic group EMILYs List and obtained by POLITICO, finds that most voters wouldn’t support Platner over Republican Sen. Susan Collins after learning of his past social media posts in which he called himself a communist, denigrated the police and characterized white people in rural Maine as “stupid” and “racist.”
When voters are read direct quotes from Platner’s since-deleted Reddit posts, he loses to Collins by double digits. And in a test of potential campaign messaging, a positive narrative about Platner that includes his life story as a veteran and oyster farmer and his apology for the posts fails to make up the gap.
Before testing a matchup between Platner and Collins, the poll summarizes pro-Platner messaging — including his military service and his promise to “fight the billionaire class” and make politics work “for regular people” — along with likely Republican attacks about the communist label and his comments about police. With that information, Collins leads Platner 51 percent to 42 percent.
That gap grew to 19 points after voters were provided more quotes from Platner’s Reddit posts. And when voters were provided with a lengthy apology response, he only narrowed the gap by 5 points.
The poll did not test how Maine Gov. Janet Mills, the other major Democrat challenging Collins, would fare in a general election.
EMILYs List, which tapped Impact Research to conduct the poll, aims to elect Democratic women and has endorsed Mills in the primary. That the influential organization would test Platner signals how seriously national Democrats are taking his candidacy.
“The poll’s findings are clear,” said Tiernan Donohue, EMILYs List’s chief campaigns officer, said in a statement. “Maine voters find Graham Platner’s comments blaming victims for sexual assault, calling the Mainers he is seeking to represent ‘racist’ and ‘stupid,’ and promoting violent political action completely disqualifying.”
In old Reddit posts, Platner wrote dismissively about the challenges of service members reporting sexual assault in the military, and suggested armed resistance could be necessary for social change.
He has since disavowed that rhetoric, along with other controversial posts, saying he ended up in toxic corners of the internet at a low point in his life. “I don’t want people to judge me off the dumbest thing I said on the internet 12 years ago,” he told the Washington Post in October. “I would like people to engage with who I am today.”
The Maine Senate race is a top target for Democrats next year, and the poll confirms Collins’ vulnerability as a GOP incumbent in a blue state: On a generic ballot, Maine voters say they prefer a Democrat over a Republican in the Senate next year, 46 percent to 37 percent. Collins’ approval rating is also under water by 10 points.
Nevertheless, victory will not be easy: In the leadup to the state’s 2020 Senate election, polling largely favored Democrats over Collins, but the incumbent rallied support and won another term. That 2020 race attracted more than $100 million in spending from outside groups, and next year’s election is once again expected to be among the most expensive in the country.
Platner, an unknown oysterman until a few months ago, has catapulted to political stardom, drawing hundreds of attendees at rallies across the state and raising millions of dollars as he runs as a progressive outsider who rails against corruption and oligarchy. His ascent was tempered by controversy, which he has apologized for, saying past posts reflect a time when he was angry and disillusioned after his military service. He’s said his views have changed since moving back to Maine, starting a business and finding support in his community.
His campaign was also rocked by a series of top staff departures, but is forging ahead.
Public polling of the primary has had wildly mixed results, with a University of New Hampshire poll released last month showing Platner with a strong lead over Mills while a SoCal poll days later gave the advantage to the governor.
The Impact Research poll was conducted from Oct. 22 through Oct. 27 with a sample size of 700 likely Maine voters for the 2026 general election and a 3.7 percent margin of error.
