WoW
With barely three months left in his tenure, voters in heavily Democratic Maryland have grown weary of Martin O’Malley, their liberal-policy-embracing, tax-raising and guitar-slinging governor, and show markedly little enthusiasm for a presidential bid he is preparing to launch.
O’Malley’s job-approval rating has fallen to an eight-year low of 41 percent, with his biggest defections coming from fellow Democrats, while Hillary Rodham Clinton dominates the 2016 landscape even in O’Malley’s home state, a new Washington Post-University of Maryland poll has found.
Clinton is the choice for president for 63 percent of Maryland Democrats, according to the poll, while O’Malley draws the support of only 3 percent, no better than Bernard Sanders, the independent socialist senator from Vermont. Vice President Biden also fares better in Maryland than O’Malley, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) draws similar support.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/as-omalleys-approval-rating-falls-md-voters-not-confident-in-his-presidential-bid/2014/10/11/e48aebd2-5096-11e4-8c24-487e92bc997b_story.html
One of the talking heads on CNN alluded to the poll so I just had to see it for myself.
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Notice the date of the article you quote -- October 11, 2014. A few months into the Hogan administration have already changed those stats. Maryland, like Massachusetts, gets "liberal" fatigue and tinkers with republican governors now and then. That's what happened in 2014 (and Brown was a lousy campaigner). Maryland got "liberal" fatigue once before and elected Ehrlich (for one term). You will see O'Malley's favorables rise in Maryland as Hogan continues his unpopular budget priorities -- e.g., funding prisons rather than education. Hogan has lowered the toll on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, but hasn't indicated where the money will come from to do repairs on the bridge.
Maryland is a complicated state. Look at the first paragraph you quote:
Maryland may be heavily democratic, but there are Western Maryland counties that have asked to secede (and become part of West Virginia ?). Baltimore County and Montgomery County are strong democratic areas, but more rural areas are solidly republican.
Taxes are never popular, even among democrats ("tax-raising"
. O'Malley raised many taxes and fees; but these went to education, infrastructure, healthcare, and other areas important to the well-being of the state. State income taxes were raised for the top 15% bracket, but remained the same for the lower 85%. Cigarette and gasoline taxes went up, in order to increase spending for essential services.
Going back to the quote ("liberal-policy-embracing"
: Many people in Maryland were opposed to O'Malley's stands on immigration, marriage equality, and capital punishment. Even the Archbishop of Baltimore pressured O'Malley before he signed same-sex marriage into law, but he did not relent.
And there is the matter of his "guitar-slinging." Frankly, I like that about him. Of course, that is quite "subjective."
I am a Marylander, and O'Malley is my candidate. I have agreed with his policies as governor and have not been hurt by his "taxes" (even the so-called "rain tax" to help pay for EPA pollution remediation). I don't think taxes are evil, unless they go to illegal wars or predatory corporations. O'Malley's taxes helped keep college affordable and made Maryland schools some of the best in the country.
I think we need a tax and spend president, so long as he is determined to tax the rich and spend on the people and infrastructure.
Incidentally, the poll is strangely put together:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/page/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/10/11/National-Politics/Polling/question_14600.xml?uuid=lEryRlGDEeSHfDNbU__nNg
The Question:
"Q: (AMONG REGISTERED VOTERS) How much would you say O'Malley has accomplished as governor: a lot, a fair amount, some, or not much?"
There are no choices for "nothing" or "made things worse."
If you add together the percentages for "a lot," "fair amount," and "some," you get 67%. I'm not sure how to draw a clear distinction between "some" (25%) and "not much" (27%). "Not much" still means "some," and not "none," which does not appear in the poll. If you add together all the percentages from "not much" to "a lot," you get 94% who believe that he accomplished something. And this was a poll of registered voters (both democratic and republican).
Just my opinion, but I think it was the Washington Post (no longer a liberal paper) that had O'Malley fatigue.
who prints anything they are handed. His approval rating miraculously improved the minute the election ended. If you want another example remember all the FUD about Ebola right before the election? By serious co-winky-dink, that FUD ended on election day.
AAR, the longer Hogan gets to ruin Maryland, the more fondly they'll remember and support Martin.
