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Despite inflammatory comments, Platner holds 9-point lead over Collins in new poll
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The intense media scrutiny and Republican attacks facing Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner of Maine over his controversial and inflammatory past online comments and his now-removed but well-publicized tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol don’t appear to be slowing him down.
A new public opinion poll shows Platner holding an upper single-digit lead over longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine in a race that is among a handful that will likely decide if the GOP holds its slim 53-47 majority in the Senate in this year’s midterm elections.
Platner, a progressive candidate backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, stands at 51% support among likely Maine voters, with Collins at 42%, in a Pine Tree State poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire. Six percent of respondents were undecided, with 2% backing other candidates.
The survey is the latest public opinion poll to indicate Platner, an oyster farmer and Army and Marine veteran who served in combat in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, leading Collins, a moderate Republican who is seeking a sixth six-year term in the Senate representing left-leaning Maine.
WHAT MAINE VOTERS TOLD FOX NEWS DIGITAL ABOUT GRAHAM PLATNER’S CONTROVERSIES
Graham Platner, the Democrats’ presumptive Senate nominee in Maine, holds an energy event in Ellsworth, Maine on Monday, May 11, 2026. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
Ninety-one percent of Democrats questioned said they’d vote for Platner in the general election, with 87% of Republicans backing Collins. The senator held a slight 47%-44% edge over Platner for the support of independents.
The poll was released two weeks ahead of Maine’s primary.
Platner is considered the Democrats’ presumptive nominee after two-term Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who was backed by Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer and other establishment leaders, suspended her campaign a month ago. Mills cited fundraising concerns and polling woes for her decision to end her bid. But the governor’s name will remain on the primary ballot.
According to the poll, Platner stands at 76% support for the Democratic nomination, with Mills at 10% and longshot Senate contender, David Costello of Brunswick, who spent decades working in state and federal government, at 3%.
Collins faces no challengers for the Republican Senate nomination.
PLATNER CONFRONTED OVER PAST ON-LINE CONTROVERSIAL COMMENTS
Platner, who advocates an economically populist agenda as he takes aim at corporate influences and advocates for the working class as he runs for the Senate, has been criticized by Collins and other Republicans as too extreme for Maine.
«I believe that will be the conclusion of Maine voters. But, obviously, I don’t take anything for granted,» Collins said when asked in a Fox News Digital interview earlier this month if Platner was too far to the left.
But Platner, in a Fox News Digital interview a week later, argued, «What’s radical is somebody like Susan Collins, who, for decades now, has made sure that we pass policies that are going to help corporations and billionaires to the detriment of working people, supporting over and over and over again, illegal and insane foreign wars.»
Platner, amid a slew of media stories, has come under fire from Republicans in recent weeks over his past controversial comments from last decade, after he returned from combat tours of duty, as well as more recent comments earlier this decade, that he made on Reddit.
WHAT GRAHAM PLATNER SAID IN A FOX NEWS DIGITAL INTERVIEW
Platner apologized for his controversial Reddit posts after they made headlines last fall soon after he launched his Senate campaign.
But confronted by Fox News Digital last week near his home in Maine, Platner declined to apologize both to voters and a Purple Heart recipient when asked about a deleted Reddit post where he said the wounded soldier «didn’t deserve to live.»
Meanwhile, Platner has said he got the skull and crossbones tattoo in 2007 while drinking with fellow Marines stationed in Croatia. He said that he covered up the tattoo with a new design after learning last year that it resembled a Nazi symbol.
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It’s not just Republicans who are taking aim at Platner over the comments and the tattoo. A few Democrats are also speaking out. Democratic Rep. Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts this week reiterated his criticism of Platner.
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«As I said months ago, I find Platner’s Nazi tattoo and his commentary about it personally disqualifying,» Auchincloss wrote Tuesday in a social media post. «If it were me, I’d vote for someone else in the Maine Democratic primary.»
The Pine Tree Poll was conducted May 21-25, with an overall sampling error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
primary results, polls, midterm elections, elections, maine, senate elections
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Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said he will be opening up an investigation into former National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Dr. Anthony Fauci following Fauci’s explosive decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment right and not answer any questions during a congressional hearing Wednesday.
«Fauci’s lack of candor to Congress is unbelievable. My office is launching an investigation into Dr. Fauci. It’s past time we get the truth of what happened during COVID,» Uthmeier wrote in a Wednesday post on X.
Uthmeier further expanded on his decision in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital.
FAUCI PLEADS FIFTH WITH ‘ZERO LEGAL JUSTIFICATION’ AS CRITICS ERUPT AND DEMAND CONTEMPT CHARGES
James Uthmeier spoke at the National Conservative Convention on Sept. 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
«In light of recent reports exposed by Senator Rand Paul, we will investigate any and all potential violations of Florida law involving Anthony Fauci,» Uthmeier told Fox News Digital.
«Our inquiry will focus on what Fauci knew, when he knew it, and how he misled the American people. We will examine the physical and monetary harms to Floridians that may have resulted from his deceptions and determine whether his conduct exposes him to liability under state law,» Uthmeier’s statement concluded.
Uthmeier cited revelations published by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., which revealed internal notes Fauci wrote on government computers during his time at NIAID.
FAUCI’S NEWLY RELEASED COVID DIARIES REVEAL BIZARRE FIXATION ON FAME AS PANDEMIC DEATHS MOUNTED
Former NIH Director Anthony Fauci listens during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on July 29, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Fauci declined to answer questions, asserting his Fifth Amendment right. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The internal notes, which Paul and others have taken to referring to as Fauci’s «diary,» suggest Fauci appeared to publicly overstate the death rate from COVID-19 compared to what he wrote privately.
«[Former CDC Director] Tom Frieden called me this AM and we discussed various aspects of the outbreak,» Fauci wrote on Feb. 8, 2020.
«He and I are on the same page in thinking tht [sic] this is acting like a bad influenza in its transmissibility and that the denominator is much greater than 34,867 (above) making the case fatality rate (CFR) more like 0.2-0.3 % rather than 2.0%,» Fauci’s entry concluded.
However, a month later, in congressional testimony to the House Oversight Committee on March 11, 2020, Fauci pegged the mortality rate at 1%.
«I think if you count all the cases of minimally symptomatic or asymptomatic infection, that probably brings the mortality rate down to somewhere around one percent, which means it is 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu,» he testified.
Anthony Fauci declined to testify in a Senate committee hearing on his role in the US response to COVID-19, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights. (Left (Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP via Getty Images), Right (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images))
When called to testify on the revelations before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Fauci exercised his Fifth Amendment right and refused to answer legislators’ questions 111 times.
Uthmeier is not the only Republican to take aim at the former COVID czar Fauci in light of the revelations.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Wednesday that Fauci should be held in congressional contempt for refusing to answer questions despite receiving a presidential pardon.
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«I think Anthony Fauci has had contempt for Congress and contempt for the American people for decades,» he said. «His diary shows that he deliberately lied to the American people over and over and over again,» Cruz said.
Paul, for his part, said his committee will vote on whether to hold Fauci in contempt next week.
investigations, anthony fauci, politics, florida, trending news
El Gobierno de Panamá aseguró que el país dejó atrás el desempleo de dos dígitos y que la recuperación del mercado laboral comienza a reflejarse en la economía de los hogares.
La ministra de Trabajo y Desarrollo Laboral, Jackeline Muñoz, afirmó que las cifras preliminares ubican la tasa de desempleo en alrededor de 9.1%, a la espera de la validación oficial del Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censo (INEC).
Como respaldo a esa afirmación, el Ministerio de Trabajo reportó que entre enero y junio de 2026 se firmaron 174,383 contratos de trabajo, un crecimiento de 22.5% frente a los 142,391 registrados durante el mismo período del año anterior.
Sin embargo, la recuperación todavía no alcanza los niveles observados antes de la pandemia, ya que en el primer semestre de 2019 el país contabilizó 202,108 contrataciones, unas 27,700 más que las alcanzadas este año.
El incremento de las contrataciones estuvo impulsado principalmente por empleos de carácter temporal. Las estadísticas del Mitradel muestran que los contratos definidos, es decir, aquellos con una duración previamente establecida, concentraron 94.922 registros, equivalentes a más de la mitad de todas las contrataciones realizadas durante el semestre y un aumento de 23,3% respecto al año anterior.
A ellos se sumaron 38,394 contratos por obra determinada, modalidad que registró el mayor crecimiento porcentual al aumentar 33.1%, favorecida por la recuperación gradual del sector construcción.
En contraste, los contratos indefinidos, que ofrecen una mayor estabilidad laboral, ascendieron a 41,067, con un incremento de 12.4%, lo que evidencia que el mercado todavía genera una proporción importante de empleos de corta duración.
Muñoz sostuvo que los resultados responden a la reactivación económica y a la ejecución de proyectos públicos y privados que comienzan a traducirse en oportunidades de empleo.
La ministra recordó que durante 2025 se generaron alrededor de 63.000 nuevos puestos de trabajo y aseguró que la meta anunciada por el presidente José Raúl Mulino de crear 80,000 nuevos empleos es alcanzable.
Añadió que los sectores de contabilidad, logística, administración, comercio y automóviles encabezan actualmente la demanda de trabajadores, mientras que la construcción continuará siendo uno de los principales motores de contratación gracias al desarrollo de obras de infraestructura contempladas por el Gobierno.
También destacó que 936 jóvenes consiguieron una plaza laboral mediante el programa Mi Primer Empleo durante el primer semestre, mientras que 636 participantes ya cuentan con una vacante garantizada dentro de Mi Primer Empleo Agro.
Las cifras también reflejan importantes diferencias por sexo y región. Del total de contratos firmados durante el primer semestre, 117.898 correspondieron a hombres y 56.485 a mujeres, mientras que la sede central del Mitradel, que comprende principalmente la ciudad de Panamá, concentró 94,804 contrataciones.
Entre las provincias sobresalieron Panamá Oeste, con 13.345 contratos; Chiriquí, con 11.800; y Colón, con 9.130. El mejor desempeño mensual se registró en junio, cuando se firmaron 32.784 nuevos contratos, un aumento cercano al 39% frente al mismo mes del año anterior, lo que confirma la aceleración observada durante la primera mitad del año.
Pese a estos resultados, el mercado laboral panameño continúa enfrentando desafíos estructurales. La última Encuesta de Mercado Laboral del INEC, correspondiente a septiembre de 2025, situó la tasa de desempleo en 10.4%, equivalente a 227,302 personas sin trabajo, mientras que la informalidad alcanzó 47.1%, es decir, cerca de 785,000 personas laboraban sin contrato formal ni cobertura de seguridad social.
Aunque el Gobierno sostiene que el empleo formal mantiene una trayectoria de recuperación, el reto ahora será consolidar ese crecimiento mediante puestos de trabajo permanentes y recuperar el volumen de contrataciones que el país registraba antes de la pandemia, cuando el mercado laboral mostraba un mayor dinamismo y estabilidad.
contrato,laboral,acuerdo,negocios,firma,apretón de manos,empleo,oficina,carrera,profesional
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