MAY 2011 – The Maine People’s Resource Center conducted a public opinion survey of 971 registered Maine voters between May 1st and May 8th, 2011.
The results show Governor Paul LePage with a job approval rating of 41.1%, with 52.7% of respondents disapproving of his performance as governor.
LePage did better among men than women and had a higher rating among respondents age 30-44 than any other age group. LePage’s greatest level of support from any demographic or ideological group measured came from self-declared supporters of the tea party, 78.9% of whom approved of his job performance. Only 24.3% of those who do not support the tea party and 16.4% of Democrats approved of LePage’s handling of the governorship.
Senator Olympia Snowe had the approval of 64% of those surveyed, with 31.2% disapproving of her performance as senator. This rate of approval was relatively steady across party lines and across almost all other demographic measures. Only among respondents age 18-29 and among tea party supporters did Snowe have much lower levels of approval, at 57.1% and 47.8%, respectively.
Snowe’s high level of general approval, including among Republicans, does not seem to inoculate her from the threat of a primary challenge. When asked if they would support Snowe or an unnamed conservative challenger in 2012, a 47.7% plurality of Republicans chose the challenger, with 46.7% supporting Snowe.
Snowe did much better against named opponents. When Snowe was then listed along with her announced challengers, Scott D’amboise and Andrew Ian Dodge, only 8% of Republicans chose D’Amboise and 4.2% supported Dodge. Snowe received the support of 49.5%, with 38.3% undecided.
A large majority of those surveyed expresses support for the creation of a state bank, an issue now being discussed in the Maine legislature. 70.9% approved of the idea, with 7.6% opposed. Support for a state bank was relatively steady across demographic groups, with slightly higher support among men than women and among supporters of the tea party than among non-supporters.