Gov. Hogan Leads Ben Jealous By 20 Points: Washington Post Poll

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Gov. Larry Hogan retains a double-digit lead over Democrat Ben Jealous less than a month from the election, according to a new Washington Post-University of Maryland poll. Likely Maryland voters support Hogan by a 20-point margin, 58 percent to 38 percent, while only 5 percent have not decided who to vote for in the Nov. 6 election.

The newspaper's poll is similar to a Goucher Poll released three weeks ago that showed 54 percent of likely voters say they will vote for Republican incumbent Hogan and 32 percent for Jealous, a former president of the NAACP seeking to become Maryland's first African-American governor. Hogan is the second-most popular governor in the United States with voters of both parties giving him approval ratings of 70 percent or more this year.

Hogan leads Jealous in Baltimore County and is competitive in Democratic Montgomery County, the new poll says. Jealous leads Hogan in only one major area: Prince George’s County.

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“If [Jealous] hasn’t gotten through just yet, I don’t see how there’s much room at this point’ for him to do it in the next month, said Michael Hanmer, research director for the Center for American Politics and Citizenship at the University of Maryland. "The level of support for Hogan, even among registered Democrats, is extremely high," he told The Post.

Jealous won union endorsements, and the support of former President Barack Obama, but not universal backing from Democratic party leaders in the primary election, where he upset Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker III. Hogan's campaign has trumpeted dozens of endorsements from current and former elected Democratic officials supporting the governor for re-election over Jealous. The endorsements include Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ashman, Bowie City Councilman Henri Gardner, Bowie Mayor Fred Robinson, former Anne Arundel County Executive Jim Lighthizer, and more.

Helping Hogan woo voters in a blue state has been his public opposition to President Donald Trump; the governor went so far as to write in his late father on the presidential ballot rather than voting for the controversial Trump. Last summer after a violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, left one woman dead and at least 19 people injured, Hogan condemned the gathering even as Trump said there was blame on both sides for the clashes. This summer Hogan reiterated his stance ahead of another white nationalist rally in DC, which fizzled.

When Hogan spoke with David Rubenstein, president of the Economic Club of Washington D.C., in front of business leaders at the Bethesda Marriott in August, he said "you never say never" about running for president.

"I have never really given that much thought," Hogan said of a run for president, according to The Washington Post. "Right now, I'm a lot more focused on just getting reelected because there's a lot more things to get done in the second four years."

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Photos from Gov. Hogan's office and Ben Jealous campaign