A majority of Maine residents believe that they are not better off now than they were five years ago, according to a statewide poll by the Bangor Daily News and Capitol News Service.

And, by a substantial margin, those interviewed said that they would support a provision to limit the service of members of Congress to no more than 12 years. The poll findings could have a bearing on the state’s congressional and gubernatorial elections.

Rep. Joseph E. Brennan, the Democratic candidate for governor, is charging that mismanagement of state finances by Gov. John R. McKernan has moved Maine to the brink of a financial crisis. McKernan claims that state finances are better than Brennan says, and asserts that he confronted the downturn of New England’s economy better than other chief executives in the region who were forced to enact new taxes to balance their budgets.

The issue of a 12-year congressional limit has become a major issue in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District race between Rep. Olympia J. Snowe and State Rep. Patrick McGowan, and recently spilled over into the Senate contest between Sen. William S. Cohen and State Rep. Neil Rolde.

The NEWS/CNS survey of 612 likely voters was conducted last week. The poll is believed to be accurate to plus or minus 4 percent.

A total of 51.3 percent of those interviewed answered “no” when asked if they were better off today than five years ago, compared with 41.2 percent who said they were better off. Respondents who said that they were unsure totaled 7.5 percent.

That’s a big swing from the late 1980s when four separate CNS surveys indicated that more than 60 percent of respondents concluded that they were better off.

The decline in economic confidence began last fall when those describing themselves as better off slipped to 52.7 percent, and those who said that they were worse off climbed to 43.8 percent.

The new NEWS/CNS survey is the first in which those claiming to be worse off exceeded those who said they were better off.

Richard Silkman, head of Maine’s State Planning Office, said he was not surprised by the new poll findings.

“There has been a remarkable erosion in consumer confidence in the entire region,” Silkman said. A recent Boston Globe poll in Massachusetts, for example, found that 47 percent of residents were so worried about their state’s economy that they were thinking of moving to another state.

Silkman said that the pessimistic perception by Mainers, which may be colored by the Middle East crisis, probably is exaggerated.

“It’s fair to say that we are in an economic slowdown. All measures suggest that there’s pretty much a standstill with respect to economic growth. But we have not seen the type of hemorrhaging of jobs seen in Rhode Island or Connecticut,” said Silkman.

Silkman pointed out that Maine’s current unemployment rate is roughly a full percentage point below the national average.

“There’s nothing ahead to suggest a dramatic turnaround right now. On the other hand, there is nothing indicating a more serious downturn,” he said.

The NEWS/CNS poll indicated that women respondents were more pessimistic than males by roughly a 10 percent margin. Democrats also had a much dimmer view of the state’s economic picture than Republicans, who split equally on the question of whether they were better or worse off than they were five years ago.

There also was a regional disparity in the polling data. A total of 47.7 percent of those interviewed in the 1st Congressional District said they were better off now than five years ago, compared with 33.7 percent who answered yes to that question in the 2nd District.

On the issue of a 12-year congressional limit, 61.4 percent of those interviewed said they would favor such a plan, while 27.3 percent said they did not like the idea. A total of 11.3 percent of those interviewed said that they were unsure about the proposal.

The Maine poll findings roughly parallel those of national polls on the issue.

“We have seen a tremendous frustration with incumbents. People are telling me that a 12-year term limit would be healthy. People are really embracing the concept,” said McGowan.

Snowe, who embraced the 12-year proposal 12 years ago when she was first elected to Congress, now thinks the plan makes little sense and accused McGowan of hypocrisy.

“Is Pat McGowan calling on George Mitchell to step down after this term is over? And does he think that Maine should have been deprived of much of the illustrious careers of Margaret Chase Smith and Ed Muskie … Muskie didn’t secure passage of the Clean Air Act until his 14th year,” Snowe said.

Snowe claimed that if McGowan was really concerned about retiring incumbents he should focus on the Democratic-controlled Maine House of Representatives, where 100 percent of Democratic candidates were returned to office last year and the state’s top Democratic legislative leader, House Speaker John L. Martin, has served for more than 20 years.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, Snowe said, “there has been a 50-percent turnover since 1980, and two-thirds of House members have served less than 12 years.

“With term limitations, you’d wind up putting the real power in the hands of unelected staff and unaccountable bureaucrats,” Snowe said.

“In 1978, she said that members of Congress get caught up in the Washington environment and lose touch with voters back home,” said McGowan. “I say it was a good idea then and it’s a good idea right now.”

McGowan sidestepped the question of George Mitchell, saying after two terms in the Senate “he ought to go to the White House.” McGowan said he favors only a 12-year ceiling on terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, not the U.S. Senate or Maine Legislature.

Rolde recently advocated a 12-year limit on Senate terms. The proposal was ridiculed by Cohen, who has served 18 years in Congress and is seeking another 6-year term in the Senate.