Collins, the longtime Maine moderate, is sticking with the plan that worked in her previous four elections, breaking with her party more often than most of her colleagues. But her prospects for another term seem no better than Gardner’s.
Collins voted with Trump on 89.7 percent of the votes on which Trump took a position this year, which certainly won’t sit well with many of her Maine constituents absent any context.
The context is important: Her tally is the third-lowest among Senate Republicans and reflects that most of the votes on which Trump stated a view were on his nominees to federal judgeships and executive branch jobs. Collins parted with him on five of the 12 policy votes on which Trump took a position.
Gardner, it’s reasonable to presume, is a conservative voting his conscience. With a primary system that allows the most conservative voters to select the nominees, that makes sense. And his voting represents sound political strategy: In a polarized country, there are fewer moderate voters to persuade and it’s crucial to keep the party base motivated. His high level of support for Trump is also a reflection of the few positions on votes Trump took, giving senators few chances to differentiate themselves.
“I tend to view him as one of the most high-political-acumen politicians I’ve ever known,” said Kyle Saunders, a political scientist at Colorado State University who expects Gardner will lose to former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper anyway. That, Saunders argued, is the result of a state moving left, and a politician forced to try to retain Trump voters while also appealing to a large group of independents in Colorado who don’t like the president. Gardner, he said, “has been placed in a very intractable situation.”
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October 26, 2020 at 06:03PM
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Cory Gardner and Susan Collins diverge on strategy, but both are in peril - Roll Call
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