Poll: Dem leads Republican by 8 points in Maine governor race

The Democratic candidate running in Maine’s gubernatorial race enjoys an 8-point lead over her Republican challenger, according to an Emerson College poll released Wednesday.

In the survey of likely voters, Janet Mills leads her opponent Shawn Moody 50 percent to 42 percent with just 4 percent undecided, without allowing for the presence of independent candidates.

{mosads}The Emerson College poll of the Maine race, while the first from that source, was in line with another poll from Pan-Atlantic Research earlier this month that also found Mills with an 8-point lead over Moody, holding the support of 44 percent of likely voters compared to Moody’s 36 percent.

Maine’s retiring Gov. Paul LePage (R) is a top supporter of President Trump and served as a vocal surrogate for the president during the 2016 election.

LePage has made headlines throughout the year, including in June when he refused to partake in a largely ceremonial certification of the state’s primary election results due to his opposition to the state’s new ranked-choice style of voting, which he called “horrific.”

Mills became the Democratic nominee earlier this year after winning a seven-way primary election, while Moody defeated three other Republicans for the right to succeed LePage as his party’s nominee.

The Emerson College poll contacted likely 883 likely voters in Maine between Oct. 27-29, through a mix of landline and cellphone calls as well as internet responses. The margin of error for the poll is 3.5 percentage points.