Donald Trump leads Kamala Harris in Maine's Second Congressional District, poll says

Former President Donald Trump holds a small lead over Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race in Maine’s more conservative Second Congressional District, according to the final pre-election poll out of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.

Harris leads the state overall, 52% to 41%, but Maine awards one electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district, in addition to the two electoral votes given to the winner of the state as a whole. In the First District, Harris has a commanding lead of 60% to 36%. But in the Second District, Trump leads by 4 points: 48% to 44%.

Trump has received his only electoral college votes in New England from Maine’s Second District. In 2016, he won the district by 10 points, and in 2020, he won by 7.

Maine voters are evenly split on who they believe will win the presidential election, with 41% naming each candidate respectively.

Third party candidates Jill Stein, Chase Oliver, and Cornel West all garnered 1% in the poll respectively.

Poll respondents were also asked what one word they would use to describe Harris and Trump.

Harris supporters most often mentioned the words “competent,” “smart,” and “honest” to describe Harris, and “dangerous,” “fascist,” and “dishonest” to describe Trump.

Trump supporters used “incompetent,” “unqualified,” and “fake” to describe Harris, and “leader,” “strong,” and “patriot” to describe Trump.

Golden and Theriault too close to call

Maine’s Second District also features a tight race for U.S. representative this election, according to another new UNH poll.

Incumbent Democrat Rep. Jared Golden and Republican challenger state Rep. Austin Theriault are neck and neck, with 45% of likely voters saying they will vote or have already voted for Golden and 44% saying the same for Theriault.

Golden is vying for his fourth term as representative, but his attempt is challenged by the fact that he’s a Democrat running in a Trump-won district, as well as his change in stance on assault weapons after the mass shooting in Lewiston last October.

The poll also reveals Theriault is more popular than Golden, with 40% of likely voters finding him favorable and 43% unfavorable. This is compared to Golden, who is found favorable by 32% and unfavorable by 44%.

However, a plurality of likely voters believe Golden will prevail over Theriault.

King and Pingree comfortably ahead

Incumbent independent Sen. Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats, is well ahead of his challengers in his bid for a third term in the U.S. Senate.

Fifty percent of likely voters say they will vote or have already voted for King. His closest challenger, Republican Demi Kouzounas, garners 35% of likely voters’ support, and Democrat David Costello gets 7%. Independent Jason Cherry receives 1%, according to the poll.

In Maine’s First Congressional District, eight-term incumbent Democrat Rep. Chellie Pingree leads her challengers handily, with 56% of likely voters saying they will vote for or have already voted for Pingree, compared with 28% who say the same for Republican Ronald Russell and 4% for independent candidate Ethan Alcorn.

While Maine has ranked choice voting, it won’t go into effect unless neither candidate gets over 50% of the vote.

Confidence in election integrity varies by party

While 82% of likely voters overall are very or somewhat confident their vote will be accurately counted in the upcoming general election, the degree of confidence varies greatly depending on party ID.

Nearly all Democrats (99%) are very or somewhat confident that their vote will be accurately counted. Only 65% of Republicans feel the same.

However, Mainers of both parties are largely concerned about election interference or violence in the upcoming election and the next year.

The polls are based on responses from 1,552 individuals who completed the survey between Oct. 29 and Nov. 2. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 2.5%.

The general election is taking place Tuesday, Nov. 5.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Donald Trump leads Kamala Harris in Maine's northern district poll