New Poll: Collins +11

Via Maine Politics, Survey USA is out with a new poll that has Sen. Collins up 11 points:

Tom Allen (D): 43 (39) (38)

Susan Collins (R-inc): 54 (55) (55)

Numbers in parenthesis represent results from a Survey USA poll conducted September 22-23.

UPDATE: The internals here make a lot more sense than the ones from SurveyUSA's last poll. Still, it's hard to get invested in results that feature a staggering 47 point swing among voters in the 18-34 demographic in less than a month.

That kind of thing pretty much demands an explanation.

In any event, evidence is clearly accumulating--from this poll, from the Research 2000 poll and from the early-October Rasmussen number--that Allen has closed the gap with Collins by something in the neighborhood of five points since September.

What we don't know is how big the gap was when the narrowing began.

As Maine Politics notes, one of the few places Allen leads is with Mainers who have already voted. That's probably to be expected, due to the Dems superior turnout operation.

But if I was in the Collins camp, it would scare the bejesus out of me just the same.

Finally, Mike tells us that Pan Atlantic SMS will have a poll out later today. Their last survey had some odd aspects. And it produced the biggest lead for Collins we've seen all year.

So it probably doesn't make sense to take those numbers too seriously.