A recent poll conducted by the Washington Post and the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement revealed Marylanders’ opinions on candidates and important issues leading up to the gubernatorial election this November.
The poll asked questions regarding candidacy leanings, abortion rights, crime and marijuana legalization.
When asked for their opinions on the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year to overturn Roe v. Wade and make abortion not a constitutional right, only 29% of respondents supported the decision while 67% opposed it.
The majority of respondents also supported implementing a state constitutional amendment protecting the right to abortion in Maryland.
The poll also asked about recreational marijuana legalization in Maryland, an amendment that will be a question on the ballot for voters this November, and would take effect on or after July 1, 2023.
Almost three out of four poll respondents said they are in favor of legalizing the use of cannabis.
Kris Furnish, the co-founder of Maryland Marijuana Justice, said that they’ve been well aware of this information for years now.
“I don’t find it surprising at all,” Furnish said. “People, Americans, and even all across the globe want to consume cannabis. They want a legal way to be able to obtain this plant and have their hands on it and grow it.”
Sixty-percent of respondents said if the election were held today, they would vote for Wes Moore, the Democratic candidate. Only 28% of respondents said they would vote for Dan Cox, the Republican candidate.
When asked if Dan Cox’s ideas and policies were similar or different to Donald Trump’s, 32% of respondents said Cox’s ideas were very similar and 24% said they were somewhat similar. Only 15% of respondents said Cox’s ideas and policies were different from Trump’s.
The survey also asked respondents about what issues are the most important to them regarding their choice for governor. Out of the issues presented by the survey and mentioned by respondents, 24% of respondents cited the economy as the most important issue, and 20% cited the threat to democracy.
Michael Hanmer, the research director for the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement, said the economy being one of the most important issues to registered voters “isn’t surprising at all.” It’s often one of the most important issues, he said, especially given this year’s high rates of inflation.
The threat to democracy was an issue that voters didn’t consider previously, but current world events both domestically and internationally and other polling indicates that large portions of Americans are concerned about the state and preservation of democracy, Hanmer said.
Hanmer suspects multiple events contributed to this concern, such as the insurrection on Jan. 6 and the war in Ukraine being on voters’ minds as well as the rise and spread of misinformation and racism gaining a bigger platform.
“Racism has been an issue in the United States forever, but it’s been given a different voice now, and it’s not as on the fringe as it has been,” he said. “It’s undergirding, I think, a lot of other attitudes and actions that certain groups are taking when they are spreading disinformation or when they’re attacking voting rights.”
Hanmer also said that given the ties between Cox and former President Donald Trump, the people who said the threat of democracy was a more important issue tended to be in support of Wes Moore.
The poll reached 810 voters registered in the state of Maryland, was conducted by telephone from Sept. 22-27 and had a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.
The center’s partnership with the Washington Post began in 2014, according to Hanmer. At the time the partnership began, the center focused solely on Maryland politics, but its scope has since expanded to national politics and other current issues.
“This [survey] was one that we had planned for a long time,” Hanmer said. “We wanted to be able to contribute some information about how the public was feeling about the governor’s race and other issues.”