Susan Collins

Democrat Graham Platner clinched a narrow 2-point advantage over longtime Sen. Susan Collins (R) in the latest poll of the Maine Senate race.

The New York Times/Portland Press Herald/Siena poll found that Platner had the support of 49% of likely voters in Maine, while Collins secured 47% of support. The narrow lead suggests that the Maine Senate race remains neck-and-neck with about five months to go before Election Day.

Some Maine voters who want Democrats to control the Senate are not supporting Platner personally. The poll showed that 54% of respondents want Democrats to control the Senate, a figure that is significantly higher than those backing Platner.

Platner, an oyster farmer and veteran who has faced multiple controversies, won the Democratic nomination in the Maine Senate race earlier this month.

He has dealt with widespread scrutiny, including for having a tattoo widely recognized as a Nazi symbol. And late last month, it was reported that Platner sent sexual messages to other women while married.

When asked about whether the controversies would change whether they would support Platner, 39% said the controversies have not impacted whether they would vote for the Democrat. Twenty-eight percent said the controversies meant they would not support him and 24% said the controversies made them question whether they could support him.

Still, most Democrats and a slight majority of independents still said they would vote for Platner if the election were held today. Eighty-eight percent of Democrats and 51% of independents support him, according to the poll.

The poll also showed that Collins is more popular than President Donald Trump among likely voters in the state by about 10 percentage points.

Thirty-eight percent of Maine likely voters approved of how Trump is handling his job as president. Forty-eight percent of Maine likely voters have a favorable view of Collins, the poll found.

Trump said he was backing Collins for the Senate race earlier this month, despite the Republican senator breaking with the president at times.

“She’s a respected person, maybe a little different ideology than me, but this guy is a thug, fake. He’s a fake thug, he’s a phony. I made a lot of money picking out phonies, he’s a real phony, bad, he’s a bad person,” Trump said at a White House event earlier this month.

The poll was conducted June 19 to 26 among 608 likely voters in Maine. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.