Analysis: Polls Show Surprise Weak Spot for Platner

If Democrats want to regain the Senate, they need Graham Platner to oust Susan Collins in Maine. But two new polls have Greg Sargent of the New Republic wondering if it's time for Democrats to start worrying. On the bright side for Platner, the polls by Fox and New York Times/Sienna show the race to be a statistical dead heat at the moment. But both show that Platner is trailing badly among people without a college degree, the very type of working-class voters his campaign is built around. It appears these voters are skeptical of Platner's character thanks to the many personal controversies that have surfaced about him.

A Platner spokesperson says Maine voters have been deluged by negative ads about him, and he is working to overcome that with one public appearance after another throughout the state. Sargent writes that a "thousand" factors will decide the race, including whether he can reach and persuade enough of these voters and whether President Trump's unpopularity in the state will weigh down Collins. "Ultimately, it may all turn on good old-fashioned shoe-leather politicking," writes Sargent. "And whatever you think of Platner, one thing that can't be denied is this: He's certainly willing to work hard enough to win." Read his full piece.