Susan Collins has a whole new problem
If Susan Collins was hoping that her sudden pivot before Trump’s impeachment trial would actually help her gain favor with constituents – it didn’t exactly work out that way. It’s not really clear what she was hoping for, since asking for witnesses in the first place would likely put her out of Trump’s good graces no matter what she did afterwards to try and placate him. Either way, it’s not exactly a good look going into your re-election campaign as the least popular senator in the country.
That’s right. According to a new poll by Morning Consult, she’s dropped four points in popularity since September – making her even less popular than Mitch McConnell. Over half of her constituents – 52% – have an unfavorable view of her, much of it being baggage from when she voted in favor of Brett Kavanaugh. This makes her about as popular among Mainers as Donald Trump is across the United States.
As Collins’ favorability ratings have depleted steadily over the last year and a half, it’s a trend that likely won’t be going away any time soon. In January 2017, even before her infamous votes to “save Obamacare,” she was a popular and respected senator – with 67% approval and only 25% unfavorability, meaning she’d likely be coasting to re-election if Donald Trump weren’t president right now.
Even more embarrassingly, she’s attracted more donors from out of state than in state – attesting to her unpopularity that has only worsened since she fell back in line with her fellow Republicans, consistently voting with Donald Trump 90% of the time. The same poll showed her fellow senators Joni Ernst, Martha McSally, and Cory Gardner all ranking high in unfavorability, despite their best recent efforts to appease Donald Trump, meaning we are safely at the point where Trump has become a liability for Republicans.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making