(WatchDogReport.org) – A June 13 Critical Insights poll showed that former President and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump is ahead of US President Joe Biden in Maine by one percentage point. Political analysts explained that the result is astonishing as Maine has been a deep blue state since 1988.
The survey said that the conservative leader would carry Maine with 41 points, while President Biden would score 40 points. However, the state has been using ranked-choice voting over the last few years, which allows every voter to rank election candidates by preference instead of voting for a single one. The poll explained that, when taking the ranked-choice voting into account, the liberal leader leads with 52 percentage points while Trump is in second place with 49.
The poll determined that economic and financial worries are the two main issues among Maine voters from both political sides, including the cost of loving and affordable housing. However, immigration issues resonate more with Republicans in Maine, while gun and environmental issues resonate more with Democrats.
Over half of respondents said they believe the number of illegal immigrants and legal migrants who achieve US residency every year is too high, with 14 percent claiming that the issue is “very important.” Meanwhile, 70 percent of voters in Maine believe that severe storms have impacted the state over the last six months, and only seven in 10 think that the problem is directly connected with climate change.
The survey detailed a clear division in the topic of gun laws, as 69 percent of Democratic voters want stricter gun laws while 54 percent of GOP voters want them to remain as they currently are. Researchers from the pollster explained that the results reveal that the presidential race in the state will be “tight” and said that Trump would have more chances without the ranked-choice voting.
The pollster surveyed 609 respondents, with 95 percentage points of confidence and only 4 percentage points of sample error.
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