Poll: Marylanders Continue To Give Hogan High Marks, Biden's Popularity Dips
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Marylanders continue to hold Gov. Larry Hogan in a favorable light.
According to the latest Goucher Poll, 68% of residents approve of the job Hogan is doing as governor, with 59% saying the state is heading in the right direction.
Of the 700 Marylanders surveyed, 22% said they disapproved of the Republican governor's performance and 7% said they did not know.
Hogan's approval rating has remained pretty consistent over the last several years, despite Maryland being a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by roughly 2 to 1. In October 2020, 71% of respondents gave Hogan a favorable review, and in September 2019, it was 64%.
In the latter poll, only a plurality of Marylanders--46%--thought the state was going in the right direction, compared with 35% who thought the state was on the wrong track.
Support for President Joe Biden in Maryland is not nearly as strong. Only 53% of respondents said they approve of the job the president is doing, a 9-point drop from March, according to the poll.
Broken down by political party, Democrats and Republicans are, unsurprisingly, sharply divided on Biden's performance. According to the poll, 80% of Democrats approve of how he's run the country, while 88% of Republicans disapprove. Among independent voters, a slim majority--51%--disapprove.
When asked about the state government's spending priorities, respondents were pretty evenly split on budget items such as public transportation, unemployment assistance, and housing and community development. But a majority of those surveyed--54%-- said Maryland spends "too little" on public education.
According to the poll, 31% of respondents said Maryland spends the "right amount" on schools, and only 9% said the state allocates "too much" money for education.
Earlier this year, the Maryland General Assembly overrode Hogan's veto of a bill to inject $4 billion into education spending over the next decade.
Nearly 60% of residents agreed the state spends the "right amount" on state parks.
Pollsters with Goucher College interviewed 700 Marylanders for the survey from Oct. 14-20. Of those interviewed, 631 Maryland adults identified as registered voters. There's a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
The same poll found that 60% of residents support making recreational cannabis legal in Maryland.