Troy Jackson leads Susan Collins by two points in Maine Senate poll
A Fox News survey shows the Democratic challenger ahead, with voters more concerned about Collins’ ties to Trump than Jackson’s progressive alignment
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Senator Susan Collins speaks during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on July 21 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Photograph: Newsweek (embedded from source)
What this story says
- A Fox News poll shows Troy Jackson leading Susan Collins 48% to 46% in the Maine Senate race, a result within the 3-point margin of error.
- Voters surveyed are more concerned about Collins’ ties to Donald Trump than about Jackson’s progressive alignment.
- Jackson, a fifth-generation logger and former Maine Senate president, became the Democratic nominee after Graham Platner withdrew from the race.
- The Cook Political Report rates the race as a toss-up, with the election scheduled for 3 November 2026.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 6 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 1 of the 7 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
74/100
Craft
85/100
Hype
15/100
7 sources · methodology
Thin on the left so far
Only 1 of the 6 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
A Fox News poll conducted 6-10 August 2026 shows Democratic candidate Troy Jackson leading Republican incumbent Susan Collins 48% to 46% in the Maine Senate race. The poll surveyed 1,000 registered voters and has a margin of error of three percentage points. The result places the race within the margin of error, making it statistically tied.
Jackson became the Democratic nominee after Graham Platner, the original candidate, withdrew following allegations of inappropriate behaviour and sexual assault, which he denied. Jackson is a fifth-generation logger from northern Maine and a former president of the Maine Senate. He has emphasised his working-class background and experience representing rural communities.
The poll found that 55% of voters are extremely or very concerned that Collins votes too often with Donald Trump. Collins, who has served in the Senate since 1997 and won her fifth term in 2020 by nearly nine points, has positioned herself as a moderate Republican. The survey indicates that her support is strongest among conservatives, White evangelical Christians, voters without college degrees, and rural voters.
Jackson’s support is strongest among liberals, younger voters, college-degree holders, and union households. He leads among voters under 45, while men are evenly split between the two candidates. The poll also shows that nearly all MAGA Republicans support Collins, but her support drops by nearly 20 percentage points among Republicans who do not identify with MAGA.
Disagreements in the coverage
The Senate Leadership Fund reported that Troy Jackson once said he "would’ve ran as a communist" in a 2017 statement. Newsweek, which carried the Fox News poll, did not mention this statement in its report. The Senate Leadership Fund also reported that Jackson had received the Maine Democratic Socialists of America’s endorsement and planned to participate in a DSA candidate forum.
What the coverage left out
None of the right-rated digests or the centre-rated digest mentioned Jackson’s 2017 statement that he "would’ve ran as a communist," as reported by the Senate Leadership Fund. The left-rated digest also did not mention this statement.
48%
Troy Jackson’s support in the Fox News poll
Collins polled at 46%, within the 3-point margin of error
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 11 times, most recently on 13 Aug 2026, 11:45, and will add the sides that appear.
How other outlets pictured it
Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.
Troy Jackson leads Susan Collins by two points in Maine Senate poll
Senate Leadership Fund — embedded from source
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
1 rated outlet
- The Bangor Daily News digest led on voters’ concerns about Susan Collins’ record of voting with Donald Trump, noting that these concerns outweigh worries about Jackson’s progressive alignment. The digest did not mention Jackson’s 2017 statement about running as a communist.
Centre
1 rated outlet
- Political Wire’s digest reported the poll result showing Jackson leading Collins by two points but did not mention voter concerns about either candidate’s political alignment or Jackson’s 2017 statement.
Right
4 rated outlets
- Newsweek’s full report led on the competitiveness of the race and the narrow lead Jackson holds over Collins. It quoted the poll’s finding that 55% of voters are concerned about Collins’ ties to Trump and noted Jackson’s working-class background and rural appeal. Newsweek did not mention Jackson’s 2017 statement about running as a communist.
- The digests from khbrknews, democraticaccent.com, and Fox News all led on the poll’s finding that voters are more concerned about Collins’ ties to Trump than about Jackson’s progressive alignment. None of these digests mentioned Jackson’s 2017 statement.
Read it at the source
7 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
1Centre
1Right
4- New Fox News Poll Shows Shifts in Maine Senate Race as Collins Slips (opens Newsweek in a new tab)
- Fox News Poll: New matchup, same result: Maine Senate race stays locked (opens khbrknews in a new tab)
- Fox News Poll: New matchup, same result: Maine Senate race stays locked – Democratic Accent (opens democraticaccent.com in a new tab)
democraticaccent.com — is democraticaccent.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Fox News Poll: New matchup, same result: Maine Senate race stays locked (opens Fox News in a new tab)
Not rated
1Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Troy Jackson leads Susan Collins by two points in Maine Senate poll?
- Of the 6 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 17% are rated left, 16% are rated centre, 67% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 7. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Troy Jackson leads Susan Collins by two points in Maine Senate poll left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 6 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Troy Jackson leads Susan Collins by two points in Maine Senate poll biased?
- Troy Jackson leads Susan Collins by two points in Maine Senate poll is one event reported by 7 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Troy Jackson leads Susan Collins by two points in Maine Senate poll?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Troy Jackson leads Susan Collins by two points in Maine Senate poll?
- 7 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- What does the Fox News poll show about the Maine Senate race?
- The Fox News poll conducted 6-10 August 2026 shows Troy Jackson leading Susan Collins 48% to 46%, within the 3-point margin of error. The poll surveyed 1,000 registered Maine voters and indicates the race is statistically tied, with the Cook Political Report rating it a toss-up.
- Why are voters concerned about Susan Collins?
- The Fox News poll found that 55% of Maine voters are extremely or very concerned that Collins votes too often with Donald Trump. This concern outweighs worries about Jackson’s progressive alignment, according to the survey.
- What did Troy Jackson say about running as a communist?
- The Senate Leadership Fund reported that Jackson once said in 2017 that he "would’ve ran as a communist" if that was what it took to obtain political power. This statement was not mentioned in the Fox News poll coverage by Newsweek or other outlets.
- When is the Maine Senate election?
- The Maine Senate election is scheduled for 3 November 2026. The race is considered a toss-up by the Cook Political Report, with both campaigns expected to focus on persuading undecided voters in the coming months.
How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
