House Effects
Monday, September 21, 202643 days until Election Day, November 3, 2026
House · 2026

Maine’s 2nd District

Matthew Dunlap (D)v.Paul LePage (R)LEAN R

Open seat, currently Democratic.

Projected margin
R+3.5
Nine in ten outcomes: D+5 to R+12
Chance of winning
74%
Paul LePage
Polls alone
R+3.4
4 polls from 4 pollsters; latest Sep 12. Weight in projection: 75%.
Fundamentals alone
R+3.9
Weight in projection: 25%.
Polls

The average over time

Each poll is first shifted by its sponsor's and its pollster's measured lean, then weighted by recency and track record. Sample size gets no weight: in 2,000-plus past races it predicted nothing about accuracy. Why.

R+20R+15R+10R+5EvenD+5Jul ’25OctJan ’26AprJulOctR+3.4Election Day
adjusted weighted average shading: which side the average favors each poll, as published party-aligned pollster or sponsor
Before any poll

What the fundamentals say

A regression on past House races, fit without looking at this year. The national environment term uses the generic ballot after its historical correction (D+5.3).

What each term adds to the estimate
BaselineD+0.8
Partisan leanR+6.5
National environmentD+3.6
Incumbency0.0
Incumbent's last over/under-performance0.0
Fundraising gapR+1.9
Fundamentals estimateR+3.9
Input: partisan lean
R+7.6
Presidential vote relative to the nation, 2024 on this year's lines.
Input: raised from itemized individual donors, through June 30
$374K D · $1.6M R
FEC filings; the model uses the log of the ratio.
Handicappers, for comparison
Cook: Likely R · Sabato: Likely R · Inside Elections: Likely R
Not an input to the projection.
Table view

All 4 polls in the average

“Share” is how much of today’s average each poll supplies. It depends on recency, the pollster’s record, whether the poll screens for likely voters, and how many other polls the same firm has in the race. It does not depend on sample size.

DatesPollsterSampleDunlapLePageAs publishedAdjustedShare of average
Sep 8–12Impact ResearchDEM.-ALIGNED
for House Majority PAC
500 LV4949EvenR+3.7
moved 3.7 toward R
61%
source
Jul 11–16Tulchin ResearchDEM.-ALIGNED
for Dunlap's campaign
600 LV4948D+1R+2.5
moved 3.5 toward R
26%
source
Apr 26–28co/efficientREP.-ALIGNED
for NRCC
918 LV4050R+10R+5.3
moved 4.7 toward D
9.9%
source
Feb 12–16University of New Hampshire Survey Center520 LV4647R+1R+0.9
moved 0.1 toward D
3.5%
source

LV: likely voters. RV: registered voters. A: all adults. “Adjusted” is the published margin after removing the sponsor shift and the pollster’s measured house effect; the small print says how far that moved the poll. Dem.-aligned and Rep.-aligned mark polls paid for by a party, a campaign, or an allied group, or taken by a firm whose published work is mostly for one side. They are shifted by the average lean of such polls, then counted at full weight.