With seven weeks to go before the general election, gay marriage in Maine is looking less certain.

While a poll conducted in July left supporters feeling buoyant, a survey released on Thursday brought them back down to Earth.

In the first poll commissioned by the Portland Press Herald, 57 percent of Mainers said they support legalizing gay marriage, while 35 percent were opposed.

Thursday's Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey sucked all the air out of the room by giving the referendum a much narrower lead.

According to the poll, 52 percent of voters say they plan on voting yes on Question 1, while 44 percent say they are opposed.

“Our experience in polling these kinds of issues is that undecided usually means no so this really should be seen as a toss up with gay marriage supporters barely over the 50% mark – there's not a lot of room for error in the final seven weeks,” PPP's Tom Jensen wrote in announcing the poll's results.

Voters under 65 widely support the proposal (56% in favor, 41% opposed), but those over 65 oppose it (53% opposed, 41% in favor).