Former President Donald Trump is comfortably leading in Maine’s Second Congressional District, and Republican candidate Austin Theriault — a former NASCAR driver aiming to unseat Democrat Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) — is leading the Democrat incumbent, according to a recent Pan Atlantic Research Omnibus Poll.
The survey shows Trump leading Vice President Kamala Harris in the Second Congressional District by seven percentage points — 49 percent to 42 percent.
In the First Congressional District — which is traditionally liberal, including the city of Portland — Trump trails Harris with 32 percent to her 58 percent support.
However, Maine is unique in that it divides its electoral votes up, giving the winner of each congressional district one electoral vote. The statewide winner is allotted two electoral votes. According to this survey, statewide, Harris is leading Trump by nine percentage points — 50 percent to 41 percent support. Six percent remain undecided.
Additionally, the survey showed Theriault leading incumbent Democrat Rep. Golden by three percentage points, garnering 47 percent support to Golden’s 44 percent support. Another nine percent remain undecided. If that holds and the Republican wins, it would be an additional seat for Republicans in Congress.
The Pan Atlantic Research Omnibus Poll was taken September 5-15, 2024, among 875 Maine adults. It has a +/- 3.5 percent margin of error.
Speaking to Breitbart News Daily this month, Theriault explained that the presidential race, hypothetically, could come down to Maine.
“There’s some predictions that are saying it literally could come down to one electoral vote. And if that’s the case, Maine’s Second District will have a huge say in who wins the election,” he explained.
“Maine splits up their electoral votes. So district two, which is where I’m running for Congress, you know, whoever wins it will get one vote. CD one, which is the southern part of the state, a little bit, you know, quite a bit more liberal, has one electoral vote,” he continued.
“And then whoever wins statewide gets two. So there’s a lot of work that we’re doing in Maine’s Second [Congressional] District to obviously ensure that President Trump’s victorious. He won it in 2016 and 2020 but it’s, you know, frankly, it’s a little closer than we’d like right now,” he added, noting that they are having everyone get involved in this election.
“They’re disappointed, obviously, in this administration, but they’re even disappointed in, you know, the down-ballot races, people who have run for Congress, like my opponent, Jared Golden,” Theriault added.