Maine, like the Atlantic Provinces in Canada, is an enigma. A small mostly rural or small town population, generally very polite, religious, law abiding, and still mostly white. But when it comes to politics they lean heavily to the left. I don’t know the situation in Maine, but in Atlantic Canada it’s primarily based on economic dependence on the federal government. We’ve had a hundred years of economic malaise, with vast federal subsidies and high simultaneously propping up our economies, and stifling growth. It’s infuriating.
As long as Maine has Ranked Choice Voting, Collins isn’t going anywhere.
Maine is a mix. The rural part, the northern 2nd district, that is much more conservative than “Massachusetts North,” which is what the southern part of the state is.
I have read that New England and the Pacific Northwest are the least religious parts of the U.S. And the churches in New England are often progressive, unorthodox. The voting patterns in the U.S. depend much more on what people believe than on their income level (the people on welfare being an exception).