Pollster Jim McLaughlin said Wednesday on Newsmax's "Wake Up America" that Maine Democrat Senate nominee Graham Platner is "not fit to be a United States senator," predicting his controversial record will drive many Democrats to vote Republican in November.

Asked what happens to the nearly 30% of Democrats who did not support Platner in the primary, McLaughlin said many of those voters would likely defect to the GOP in the general election rather than backing their party's nominee.

"Look, I think a lot of them are going to wind up crossing the aisle because this guy is — and I'm telling you, there's going to be more and more stuff coming out on him — he's just not fit to be a United States senator," McLaughlin said.

Platner's record gives Democrats reason to reject him, the veteran pollster said, arguing that the candidate's past statements and political views are far outside the mainstream.

"This guy is a self-proclaimed communist," McLaughlin said. "He's since deleted those posts, but he's a self-proclaimed communist."

He also criticized Platner's comments about law enforcement and other issues, saying they make him unacceptable as a Senate candidate.

"The guy has trashed our military, he's trashed law enforcement," McLaughlin said. "I mean, he is just not fit to be a United States senator."

Platner's problems extend beyond ideology, McLaughlin said, pointing to comments he made that reportedly blamed women who were victims of rape.

"And then you look at some of the other stuff, where he's basically blamed women who were victims of rape," McLaughlin said. "I mean, it is just unconscionable."

He also highlighted Platner's past remarks about Christianity, arguing they should disqualify him from receiving support from Democrats as well as Republicans.

"And the other thing, which hasn't gotten a lot of coverage, here is a guy — and I'm almost, it's almost sacrilege for me to even repeat what he said — he called Jesus Christ a zombie, and he called the Blessed Virgin Mother a skank," McLaughlin said. "This is — every Democrat should be against him."

He compared the situation to Republicans who opposed former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke after Duke won a Republican nomination in Louisiana in 1991.

"By the way, there's history in this," McLaughlin said. "Republicans, including myself, we worked against David Duke when he hijacked the Republican nomination back in 1991, and he was a self-proclaimed Nazi at one point."

The same standard should apply to Platner, he said, arguing that Democrats should reject their nominee as extremist, offensive, and unfit for the Senate.

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