New Poll Rates Md. Gubernatorial Candidates
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A new Sun poll looks at how candidates in the governor's race are stacking up.
Political reporter Pat Warren has more on what makes the numbers so interesting.
Candidates declared early, given that the primary is in June, but the poll indicates that voters have other things on their minds.
Candidates for governor in Maryland's Democratic primary got out of the gate early, but who's watching the race? We asked voters if they've given it much thought.
"No, I don't even know who's running," said one Maryland resident.
A new Sun poll conducted by OpinionWorks shows Anthony Brown in the lead in the Democratic primary with 35 percent of the vote, followed by Doug Gansler at 14 percent and Heather Mizeur at 10 percent. The big lead in this race goes to the voters: 40 percent of Democrats and 68 percent of Republicans just don't know who they'll vote for.
"No, not really. No," said one voter.
"I hadn't thought about it yet," said another.
"We don't even know who all's running yet," said a third.
"I really haven't made a decision. I'm still looking," said a voter.
Political analyst Matthew Crenson thinks that's not a good sign.
"There's very little excitement in this election on either side but more importantly on the side of the Democrats because, as you point out, it's in the Democratic primary that for all practical purposes, the governor is chosen," Crenson said.
Many feel there's plenty of time to decide.
"Whatever you do as far as the election goes, you really have to do some research," said voter Rob Hollister.
"There's a lot of conditions that we have here in Maryland--taxes, education. Really, you want to see who's the candidate for you," said voter Rafael Williams.
On the Republican side, the leading candidate is Larry Hogan with 13 percent of the vote, followed by Harford County Executive David Craig with 7 percent. Again, 68% of Republicans polled are undecided so it's anybody's race.
The same poll gives Governor Martin O'Malley a 45 percent approval rating. He's term limited and cannot run for re-election.
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