Just weeks into President Donald Trump’s term, Marylanders are profoundly concerned about the economic turmoil caused by cuts to federal spending and jobs, according to a new statewide survey provided to Baltimore Fishbowl.
Nearly half of registered voters in Maryland want their top elected officials to fight aggressively against the Trump agenda, compared with the 31 percent who say the congressional delegation should compromise with Republicans to lower costs.
For the lawmakers who represent Maryland, “it’s becoming very quickly evident that there is not really an alternative” to fighting, said Donna Victoria, director of research at Blended Public Affairs, which conducted the independent “Maryland Now” survey in late February in partnership with the government relations firm Perry Jacobson.
The Maryland numbers show that “we are the tip of the spear,” when it comes to impacts of federal firings, Victoria said. “You have an understating of the government here that other people don’t have. Marylanders know that this area is going to be impacted more than any other place.”
She noted that voters in Prince George’s County and Southern Maryland are particularly concerned.
Trump’s actions are also eroding perception of how Marylanders think be doing financially in the next year. Fifty-eight percent of survey respondents said they will be struggling financially or living paycheck to paycheck in the coming months, up from 46 percent who gave those answers in December 2023.
Marylanders are very aware of the state’s budget deficit, but opinions are divided on what to do about it.
Sixty-three percent of respondents oppose an increase in income taxes that could affect them, while 66 percent support increasing taxes on households and businesses earning more than $500,000.
Voters are divided on another budget-balancing measure: a proposed 75-cent fee on Amazon orders and rideshare services, with 44 percent in favor and 51 percent opposed. Cutting the corporate tax rate to 7.9 percent to spur economic growth is also divisive, with 45 percent in favor and 40 percent opposed.
Among the options, “everything is risky,” Victoria said. State lawmakers “have to make some hard choices, and no doubt that someone is going to be upset. I don’t envy trying to get to the spot they need to get to.”
The full survey results can be found here.
Gov. Wes Moore maintains solid favorability ratings in the survey, with 54 percent saying he is doing an excellent or good job, while 33 percent holding negative views, for a net 19 percent positive favorability.
Maryland’s U.S. senators, Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks, are also viewed favorably, although roughly 3 in 10 voters say they are not sure about their job performance.
The fight from lawmakers and their constituents is bubbling up. U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume of Baltimore, for example, did not attend Trumps address to Congress. Last Saturday, elected officials appeared at rallies and protests across the state decrying possible cuts to Medicaid and the slashing of Social Security staff.
“We will fight them in the courts,” Van Hollen said at one rally, according to WYPR News. “We will fight them in the Congress and we will fight them in communities like this, all over America.”
Last week, state lawmakers said they were bracing for 29,000 federal job losses, with a state budget hit of $280 million in lost income taxes.
The Maryland Now survey asked several questions on energy and transportation issues.
More than half of voters say they support offshore wind farms in Maryland, compared with about one in three who oppose them. Most said the turbines would make no different in their likelihood to vacation in Ocean City, the tourist destination where opposition to the visual distraction is concentrated.
One in two voters said they would support new nuclear power plants in Maryland, more than the roughly four in 10 who said they opposed them.
The survey also found strong support for turning to privatized projects funded with toll revenues to “quickly improve road and bridge conditions” in Maryland, similar to funding sources used in Virgina. Overall support was at 62 percent, versus 30 percent opposed.
The Maryland Now survey collected responses from 905 voters who responded to tax messages in late February. It has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.
