Another poll shows Mills up 8 percentage points over Moody

A new poll shows Democrat Janet Mills with an 8-point advantage over Republican Shawn Moody in Maine's gubernatorial race but suggests a dead heat in the hotly contested race for the 2nd Congressional District.

The Emerson College poll of nearly 900 registered Maine voters found that Mills, the state's attorney general, was the top choice for 49.7 percent of respondents while the 41.7 percent Moody thing, a business owner. Purpose Terry Hayes and Alan Caron specifically. Instead, they are expected to vote for "someone else." Caron dropped out of the race and endorsed Mills on Monday, but his name remains on the ballot.

Five percent of voters selected "someone else" while 3.6 percent were undecided. The poll is conducted with automated systems on both telephone landlines and online surveys. It has a margin of error of more or less 3.5 percent.

Emerson's survey is the latest to suggest that Mills has opened a lead over Moody. An online poll conducted by Portland-based Pan Atlantic Research also put Mills up 8 percent, although Moody's campaign dismissed the results as skewed.

In 2016, an Emerson poll conducted in late-October showed Hillary Clinton beating Donald Trump by 4 percent in Maine. In the end, Clinton received 3 percent more votes than Trump in the state.

Moody's political consultant, Brent Littlefield, said the campaign feels "very confident" that Maine voters will elect Moody next week.

"For years and years and years, I have been noticeable in the polls, which is just before the polls," said Littlefield, who also advised Gov . Paul LePage's gubernatorial campaigns as well as U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-District 2.

The Mills campaign also downplayed the poll's suggestion of a gap between the two contenders.

"Mills spokesman Scott Ogden said in a statement," Our campaign is taking nothing for granted because we believe the election will be much closer than this poll. "That's why Janet continues to work hard, growing up, and growing our economy – not simply offer more of the same. "

The Hayes campaign Wednesday afternoon. But in a Facebook post, Hayes is a more viable candidate than Moody.

"The GOP nominee does not have a path to victory in the Governor's race, but independent Terry Hayes CAN win if fiscally responsible independents, Republicans, third party voters, and reform-minded Democrats unite to back her candidacy," reads the post.

In the race for Maine 's 2nd Congressional District, Emerson College' s poll found 46.7 percent of respondents supported Democratic challenger Jared Golden versus 45.6 percent support for Republican incumbent Rep. Bruce Poliquin. That poll involved 441 respondents and hence had a larger margin of error of 4.9 percent.

Roughly 3 percent of respondents favored "someone else" (there are two independents, Tiffany Bond and Will Hoar, in the race) while 4.3 percent were undecided. The Emerson results, combined with other polls, strongly suggests the 2nd District race could be decided by ranked-choice voting.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, meanwhile, drew support from 56.2 percent of respondents living in Maine's 1st Congressional District. Her Republican opponent, Mark Holbrook, was supported by 31 percent of participants while 7.2 percent were supported by Marty Grohman and 5.6 percent were undecided. The 1st District had a margin of error of 4.9 percent.

In Maine's U.S. Senate race, independent Sen. Angus King was polled at 50.4 percent, just above the threshold to avoid a tabulation in the three-way race. His opponents, Republican Eric Brakey and Democrat Zak Ringelstein, received 37.2 percent and 5.2 percent support among survey respondents, with 6.6 percent undecided.

This story will be updated.

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