AUGUSTA — In the Democratic primary for governor, a new poll shows a tie between former Senate President Troy Jackson and former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Nirav Shah.
Both are polling at 28% in the five-way race, according to the University of New Hampshire Pine Tree State Poll.
On the Republican side, former Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Bobby Charles continues to hold a lead with 37% support, the poll shows. He’s followed by Jonathan Bush at 18% and Ben Midgley at 11% in the seven-way race.
One wild card for all the poll results with such crowded fields is the state’s use of ranked choice voting, the pollsters noted. Voters’ second and third choices could upend the apparent election night winners.
On the Democratic side, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is polling in third place with 13%, followed by former House Speaker Hannah Pingree at 12% and businessman Angus King III at 7%.
That still leaves 11% undecided less than two weeks before the June 9 primary.
Among Republicans, former Maine Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason is polling in fourth place with 9%, followed by David Jones at 7%, Robert Wessels at 6% and Owen McCarthy at 2%.
The percentage of undecided GOP voters has dropped to 9%, down from 31% in February.
In the Democratic primary, the margin of error is 4% and for the Republicans, the margin is 6.3%.
The fields on both sides of the aisle are large this year because the governorship is open for the first time in eight years. Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, is prevented from running again by term limits.
Also, there’s one independent — Sen. Rick Bennett of Oxford — on the November ballot. Others could join too with a June 1 signature deadline for those who are unenrolled.
Earlier this month, Deputy Secretary of State Kate McBrien said because of the high number of candidates and the use of ranked choice voting, it’s unlikely winners will be declared on election night. Instead, all ballots will probably be shipped to Augusta for a ranked choice tabulation.