Hogan riding high with 74% approval; Trump in the dumps

Hogan riding high with 74% approval; Trump in the dumps

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By Len Lazarick

Len@MarylandReporter.com

Gov. Larry Hogan is still riding high among Maryland voters, with the latest poll showing his job approval rating at 74%; even two-thirds of Democrats say the Republican governor is doing a good job.

The Gonzales Research poll released Thursday is the fifth public opinion survey in the last four months that has found seven out of 10 voters or more approving the job Hogan is doing as governor.

The Gonzales poll, as well as the others, found widespread support across party lines and genders. Approving of Hogan’s job performance were 86% of Republicans, 81% of the unaffiliated and 66% of Democrats.

hogan-job-approval

In a Dec. 5 memo, the Hogan campaign pollster, Chris Perkins of Wilson Perkins Allen Opinion Research, gave an upbeat analysis likely to be used for fundraising.

“Governor Hogan’s numbers continue to get better and voters feel the direction of the state under the Governor’s leadership is on the right track,” Perkins wrote. “Given how well-liked Governor Hogan is among Maryland voters, if he can remain properly funded and maintain his public presence, he has an excellent chance of being re-elected.”

UPDATE: Gonzales released the results of another question apparently done for WCBM radio. The firm asked about the choices for 2018 election and found  51% said they would vote for Hogan “if the 2018 election were held today,” 31% would vote for the Democratic candidate, and 18% are undecided.

Hogan’s popularity is due to be tested in the next three months as the Democratically controlled legislature returns to Annapolis next week with an eye to improving Democratic prospects in the 2018 election.

Gonzales Research conducted the poll between Dec. 14 and Jan. 2 contacting 823 registered voters by landline and cell phone. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.5%.

Trump very unfavorable

While Hogan continues to be one of the most popular governors in the nation, according to several poll compilations, in Maryland, President-elect Donald Trump is in the doghouse, with 56% of state voters viewing him unfavorably. Almost half of Maryland voters (48%), including three-quarters of Democrats, hold a “very unfavorable” view of the next president. But 56% of Maryland Republicans do view Trump favorably.

Medical marijuana, yes; sports gambling, no

On other issues, 70% of Marylanders favor legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, as the legislature has already done in a program that has struggled to get off the ground. Republicans are fairly split on the issue, with 54% in favor, and 45% opposed.

There is strong opposition to legalizing gambling on sports such as football and basketball, with almost two-thirds of Maryland voters (65%) against the idea.

HEROIN: Forty-one percent of Maryland voters say that, over the past five years, the heroin epidemic in Maryland has had a harmful effect on someone they know, while 42% say it has not.

About The Author

Len Lazarick

len@marylandreporter.com

Len Lazarick was the founding editor and publisher of MarylandReporter.com and is currently the president of its nonprofit corporation and chairman of its board He was formerly the State House bureau chief of the daily Baltimore Examiner from its start in April 2006 to its demise in February 2009. He was a copy editor on the national desk of the Washington Post for eight years before that, and has spent decades covering Maryland politics and government.

6 Comments

  1. charlie hayward

    Hopefully, legislators will need to worry this session about prospective curtailment of Medicaid expansion’s financing using “free money” from the Feds. The State of MD’s spendfest on Medicaid is 49% higher than CBO anticipated, and so republican lawmakers in DC will cut financing; likely taking effect as soon as FFY ’19. So prudence would warrant progressive benefit cutbacks beginning in the State’s SFY 18 budget, except that MD democrats will likely exploit the situation by going full steam ahead as if cuts are not coming in order to make the cutbacks hit abruptly in the SFY ’19 budget. I’ll be disappointed if Hogan doesn’t propose large Medicaid program cuts this session.

  2. Irishpol

    That’s today in “blue” Maryland––you might check the rest of the world. Also, I’d keep an eye on those poll numbers as Hogan starts approaching the next election. When the Sun, the W/P and the rest of the dishonest media starts pimping for the Democrat––whoever it may be––you can be absolutely certain that the blue-state Maryland poll numbers on Hogan will tell a very different story. Right now the media is sucking in Hogan to be more supportive of the Democrat’s liberal agenda. I’m sure he won’t disappoint.

    • James Simpson

      Right on the money. The 44% of GOP members who don’t support Trump are the types who don’t really know who they are. As for the rest, they reflect the insane, delusional character of many of this state’s citizens. For example, 70% think pot legalization is okay. “Medical” use is just a figleaf to allow full legalization without calling it that. Pot should be classified along with substances like the liquor absinthe, which eventually melts your mind. Very understandable why that has become very illegal. Pot should remain so.

      • innerlife

        The Science does not support this nonsensical view.

        • James Simpson

          Yes it does, as well as decades of experience with it.

          • innerlife

            No, it does not. “Reefer Madness” doesn’t count as decades of science. No modern science supports this view of weed as equivalent to taking a bunch of PCP or Acid.

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