Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker still has the lead in the Democratic primary for governor, but there’s plenty of ground that can be made up by the other candidates, according to the newest Goucher Poll.
If the election were held today, 19 percent of respondents said they would vote for Baker, with 12 percent saying they would vote for Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and 10 percent saying they would vote for former NAACP president Ben Jealous.
The big takeaway here is: Most people still don’t know.
Forty-seven percent said they weren’t sure who they would support.
“Days out from the candidate filing deadline, our poll suggests that Democratic voters have yet to turn their full attention to the gubernatorial race,” said Mileah Kromer, director of the Sarah T. Hughes Field Politics Center, in a statement. “With so many undecided voters, there is ample time and room for the field to shift—even dramatically.”
But the other candidates rounding out the ballot–Alec Ross, Jim Shea, Richard Madaleno, Raph Jaffe and Krishanti Vignarajah–have to get better traction or “this primary could become a 3-way race,” she said.
Things were a little clearer in the primary for U.S. Senate. Chelsea Manning, the former military intelligence analyst who leaked documents to WikiLeaks that exposed, among other things, the killing of two Reuters journalists using their cameras, and who was convicted of violating the Espionage Act and 21 other counts, gained a lot of publicity when she announced her intention to challenge incumbent Sen. Ben Cardin in the primary.
But Marylanders still heavily support Cardin–if the election were today, 61 percent of respondents said they would support sending him back to Washington. Thirty-seven percent of voters said they had a negative opinion of Manning, while a larger number, 44, percent, said they were unable to gauge their feelings. Cardin has a favorable rating of 64 percent.
Respondents said the top issue in the election was education, followed by the “economy/jobs,” “racial/social justice” and health care. Of the 409 Maryland Democrats surveyed, 44 percent described themselves as progressive, and 43 percent said they were moderate. Only 10 percent identified as conservative.
The filing deadline for the election is Feb. 27. The primary election will be held on June 26.
