Inflation, Crime, Education Among Top Concerns In Anne Arundel: Poll

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MD — A new poll from Anne Arundel Community College suggested that inflation, crime and education are some of the county's biggest problems.

About 58 percent of the respondents are "very concerned" about inflation. Around 49 percent are just as worried about the federal government debt and deficit.

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Most Important Problems

Participants were split in their opinions of what is the “most important problem facing the residents of Anne Arundel County.”

Roughly 26 percent said the top issue is crime that's not drug-related. Drug crime and education tied for the second most popular responses at 20 percent each.

The economy was next up, fetching 19 percent of the answers. Other worries included taxes (17 percent), growth/overpopulation (17 percent) and housing cost (16 percent).

The COVID-19 pandemic slipped to the 9th-largest concern. About 14 percent said it was the biggest issue. That number was 35 percent last fall and 53 percent last spring.

The concern over crime is rising, however. Compared to last fall, twice as many people listed crime that's not drug-related as their chief worry. Drug-related concerns more than doubled from their 9 percent in autumn 2021.

Regarding local schools, a plurality was pleased with this year's $1.6 billion budget request from the Anne Arundel County Board of Education. Around 32 percent thought the request was “about right,” 28 percent said it was “too much” and 14 percent believed it was “too little.” The remaining 26 percent were unsure.

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Politics

Republican Gov. Larry Hogan had a higher approval rating (76 percent) than County Executive Steuart Pittman (47 percent) and President Joe Biden (46 percent), who are both Democrats. Hogan's approval rating was mostly unchanged. Pittman's rose 2 percentage points, while Biden's fell by 6 points.

The governor is term-limited, so Maryland will elect a new top executive this fall. Hogan last month endorsed Kelly Schulz, who served as his Secretary of Commerce, to replace him as governor.

Schulz seems to be leading the Republican primary in Anne Arundel County. She has about 20 percent of the support, the poll said. Del. Dan Cox, who represents District 4 in Carrol and Frederick counties, trails with roughly 7 percent of the Republican vote.

The Democratic Gubernatorial Primary is tighter in Anne Arundel. Comptroller Peter Franchot is leading at 13 percent. Wes Moore, a veteran and small business owner, is in second with 10 percent. Former Anne Arundel County Executive Laura Neuman is polling at 4 percent.

In the county executive race, Pittman is leading a hypothetical Republican 30 percent to 25 percent. Another 9 percent said their vote would depend on the GOP nominee.

Jessica Haire, the County Council member for District 7, is leading the Republican primary. The poll projects her to have 20 percent of the vote compared to the 15 percent from Herb McMillan, a former state delegate for the Annapolis area.

Many voters are still undecided. Marylanders can see every candidate at this link.

Methodology

The Anne Arundel Community College Center for the Study of Local Issues conducted this survey from March 18 to April 1. Pollsters interviewed 514 randomly selected county residents who are all at least 18 years old.

There was a 4.3 percent margin of error. That means the true percentage of locals who would give a response likely falls within 4.3 percentage points of what the poll found. The error rate was larger for subgroups like Democrats and men.

The dataset weighted these factors to represent the general county population:

• Gender
• Political party
• Age
• Race
• Council district
• Education

Students helped choose the topics and analyze the data, which were released on April 14.

The full report is posted here.

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