Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s job approval rating soared to 64% in a statewide poll out Tuesday, up six percentage points from a similar survey of likely voters conducted earlier this year.
The poll was conducted by Gonzales Research & Media Services between Aug. 24 and Aug. 30, days after Moore gave a well-received prime-time speech during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
More Maryland Democrats — 82% — have a positive view of Moore’s job performance than in a February poll, and he won over more Republicans. Fewer Republicans, 48%, disapproved of how he’s fulfilling his duties, down from 57% who disapproved just months ago.
Unaffiliated voters’ positive approval held steady at 52%. Maryland’s first Black governor has an 88% approval rating among Black voters and 51% among white voters, according to the poll.
Statewide, about 25% of those surveyed disapprove of Moore’s performance.
Moore was in the news last week with an Aug. 29 New York Times article revealing that he had claimed on a 2006 application that he had won a military service medal that he hadn’t received. He apologized for not correcting the application.
Gonzales surveyed 820 Republican, Democratic and unaffiliated voters by landline and cellphone who said they would likely vote during the general election. The results have a 3.5 percentage point margin of error.
Pollsters also asked likely Maryland voters how they viewed the job performances of the president and vice president and former President Donald Trump, and for which presidential ticket they would vote if the general election were held today.
It should come as no surprise that in Democratic-majority Maryland that 56% of poll respondents said they would vote for Vice President Kamala Harris if the election were held today, and 35% said they would vote for Trump.
Along party lines, 84% of Democrats backed Harris and 80% of Republicans supported Trump.
But the majority of unaffiliated voters — a growing demographic in Maryland — were within the poll’s margin of error: 38% chose Harris and 36% said they’re going with Trump.
Harris had a two-point higher job approval rating, 55%, than President Joe Biden, at 53%. In the poll, 57% of Maryland voters disapproved of GOP presidential candidate Trump’s job performance during his term as president.
Likely voters were also asked about the importance of transportation infrastructure investment, a critical question with the state planning to replace the destroyed Francis Scott Key Bridge and fund an aboveground Baltimore rail line project.
A majority, 61%, called transportation investment very important, 39% said it was somewhat important.
A majority of voters favored making juvenile laws that are more “strict” when given a binary choice between tightening or loosening laws. Arrests of young people generally amount to less than 10% of overall crime in Maryland.
