Collins Job Approval In The Dumps?

Via Dirigo Blue--which doesn't run itself--we learn of the new Collins and Snowe approval numbers from Public Policy Polling.

The news isn't great for the junior senator: Her approval/disapproval clocks in at 45%-43% with 12% undecided.

Collins has the support of 51% of Obama voters but only 38% among McCain supporters. And the poll suggests that she's much more popular with women voters (51%) than with men (35%), even though she did slightly better with men than with women in 2008.

I'm surprised by how weak the numbers are, frankly, though I suppose they're plausible given the country's dour, anti-incumbent mood.

On the one hand, it speaks volumes that a net +2 approval is the best Collins can muster even with the full cooperation of the submissive Maine media, who treat her more like a sainted celebrity than an accountable public official.

But on the other hand, it's quite an achievement for a senator who's been as conservative as Republicans could have legitimately hoped--and much more partisan than she promised in 2008--to be polling 13% higher among the voters of a president she's worked to wound, weaken and stymie than she is among supporters of the candidate she endorsed and worked to elect.

Clearly, most Mainers aren't paying very close attention. Or what they're paying attention to is mostly slanted and skewed. Or both.