A survey released Tuesday shows Mainers are sharply divided on the decision by Secretary of State Shenna Bellows to remove former President Donald Trump from the primary ballot.
The University of New Hampshire’s Pine Tree State Poll shows 46 percent strongly or somewhat support the decision, while 50 percent strongly or somewhat oppose it.
“A majority feel that partisan politics played at least some role in the decision,” according to a press release from the survey center.
When broken down by party, 85 percent of Democrats support Bellows’ decision, while 95 percent of Republicans oppose it. Among independents, the response is nearly even, with 47 percent expressing support and 49 percent opposed.
The release of the poll came just hours after Democrats in the Maine House defeated an attempt by Republicans to begin impeachment proceedings against Bellows.
Republicans argued that Bellows, a Democrat appointed to her post by fellow Democrats, overstepped her authority in deciding that Trump’s name should not appear on ballots in Maine.
She based her decision on the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which states that officials who have previously taken the oath of office and then engaged in insurrection cannot hold office again.
Her decision, which Trump has appealed to Superior Court, followed a similar ruling in Colorado, where a panel of judges reached the same conclusion. Trump appealed that decision too and the U.S. Supreme Court is set to begin consideration of the Colorado ruling in February.
The pollsters also asked Mainers how familiar they are with the 14th Amendment, with only 38 percent saying they understand it very well and 45 percent saying they understand it somewhat well.
And when it comes to what role partisan politics played in Bellows’ decision, 45 percent said they believe it factored “a lot” in the decision, 13 percent said it factored some, 12 percent said it did not factor very much and 24 percent said it factored “not at all.”
Bellows has said she based her decision on the law and the Constitution.
She said state law required her to decide on challenges filed to get Trump’s name off the ballot.
Bellows ruled that Trump engaged in insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, making him ineligible to run for office again.
When pollsters asked Mainers about Trump’s responsibility for Jan. 6, 49 percent said he had “a great deal” to do with it, 21 percent said not very much, 21 percent said none at all and 8 percent said a good amount, according to the poll results.
The poll surveyed 783 Pine Tree State Panel members between Jan. 4 and Jan. 8. The margin of error is 3.5 percentage points. The panel is made up of about 2,650 Maine adults recruited from randomly selected landline and cellphone numbers, according to the survey center.