'Boston Globe' calls on Brian Duff for insight into Senator Susan Collins vulnerability among voters

In a Boston Globe article titled “The Maine electorate has had it with her: Constituents turn on Susan Collins,” Brian Duff, Ph.D., associate professor and chair in the Department of Political Science, told the newspaper, “People generally like Susan Collins in Maine. I would never underestimate her. But I do think she’s uniquely vulnerable this go-round.”

The article points out that Collins' reputation for bipartisanship has brought her respect across the aisle for more than 22 years in Washington. But more recently, some of her supporters feel betrayed.

While Collins has, for a long time, carefully honed her reputation as a moderate, Duff pointed to recent votes he views as “obviously problematic,” including her support for Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and her vote for a tax cut package that will increase the deficit while failing to accomplish its stated goals of increasing business investments in jobs or salaries.

“She has very little chance of explaining that vote in a way that makes sense to Maine voters,” Duff said.

Conversely, he thought she is ready to defend her vote for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, which she painstakingly explained in a 45-minute floor speech in October. “It was articulate, thoughtful, consistent with the way she has spoken and voted through her career,” he said.

Still, according to the article, Collins vote for Kavanaugh is seen as a chink in her armor by left-leaning activists looking to unseat her in 2020.