Poll: King Holds Wide Lead in Maine

By Steven Shepard  //  June 18, 2012 | 6:50 a.m.

Independent Angus King is a strong favorite to succeed popular Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, leading the respective party nominees by a wide margin, according to a new poll released on Monday.

King, who served two terms as Maine's governor, earns the support of half of the state's likely voters, according to the poll, conducted last week for WBUR-FM, a public radio station in Boston. Republican Secretary of State Charlie Summers is in second place, the poll shows, with 23 percent. Democratic state Sen. Cynthia Dill is well back, with just 9 percent. One percent prefer another candidate, and 17 percent are undecided.

Among the state's likely voters, King's appeal crosses party lines. He earns the support of 60 percent of Democrats, 31 percent of Republicans and 57 percent of independents. Summers holds half of Republican voters, while Dill is supported by only 17 percent of registered Democrats.

King is the only candidate with broad name recognition, and he is well-liked, according to the poll. Sixty percent of likely voters have a favorable opinion of King, compared to just 21 percent who have an unfavorable opinion of him. A majority of likely voters either have never heard of Summers, the Republican nominee, or have no opinion of him. And Dill is even more unknown, with fully 65 percent of likely voters unable to offer an opinion of her.

The two parties chose their nominees last Tuesday, with both Dill and Summers winning weak pluralities of their respective parties' voters. As an independent, King was not on the ballot in the primary.

King has not said with which party he would caucus if elected to the Senate, though most observers expect he will choose to join Senate Democrats. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee notably neglected to mention Dill's victory last week, and King's performance among the state's likely Democratic voters in the poll further reflects the widespread belief he will support their party. If King continues to be considered the de facto Democratic candidate, he can expect to be buoyed by the top of the ticket: The poll shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney in the state, 48 percent to 34 percent. King may also fit the mold of the state's two moderate Republican senators, who are extremely popular in the state. Both Snowe and Sen. Susan Collins sport favorablity ratings of 80 percent or higher, with the percentages of likely voters who have unfavorable opinions of them in the single digits. In order for Summers to overtake King, he needs Dill to cut into King's lead among Democrats. But Summers would also be advised to align himself with Snowe and Collins rather than first-term GOP Gov. Paul LePage. Fully half of voters have an unfavorable opinion of LePage, and a plurality of voters disapprove of the job he is doing as governor. The poll was conducted by Boston-based MassINC Polling Group. Likely voters were interviewed on June 13 and 14 -- the two days immediately following last week's primaries. MassINC interviewed 506 likely voters via landline and cellular telephone, for a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.4 percentage points.

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