Morgan State Releases Gubernatorial Poll Results

From Morgan State University: With early voting in the State of Maryland now underway, Morgan State University and the AFRO-American Newspaper have released the results of a statewide poll of African Americans’ opinions about the State’s current governor’s race and national government leadership. More than 600 African-American Marylanders, representing a range of demographics and hailing from cities/counties across the state, participated in the poll, answering up to 30 questions related to the current election cycle. The polling collaboration, which was announced earlier this week, is the first of its kind between the two respected black institutions, which plan to use their polls’ findings to help address and/or interpret issues of importance to the black community.

Among the standout findings of the research poll is that many African Americans in Maryland actually support the job that incumbent Gov. Larry Hogan is doing, with 65 percent giving their approval. The poll also revealed that an unexpectedly large percentage of black respondents, 30 percent, were planning to vote for Hogan, increasing the Republican’s chances of winning a second term. However, despite Gov. Hogan’s favorability among potential black voters, the majority, 56.6 percent, still planned to vote for the Democratic candidate, Ben Jealous, who also had high likeability among the African Americans surveyed by the poll.

“The poll data show that even though Gov. Hogan enjoys a high approval rate among African-American voters who are likely to vote in Maryland, only 30.3 percent of them indicated that they will vote for him,” said Raymond Winbush, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Urban Research, Morgan’s primary social science research and training arm. “This 34.7-point gap may be attributed to the overwhelming numbers of Maryland’s African Americans’ (84 percent) having a very unfavorable opinion of President Trump and his unfavorability rating causing a ‘drag’ on Gov. Hogan’s support among black voters in Maryland, even though he has distanced himself from the president.”

5 Top Takeaways from the Poll

• 65 Percent of Maryland African Americans Approve of the job Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is doing
• 30 Percent of Maryland African Americans Plan to Vote for Hogan
• 84 percent of Maryland African Americans have a very unfavorable opinion of President Trump
• 70.7 percent of respondents said the country is worse than it was two years ago
• Despite approving of Gov. Larry Hogan's job performance, 56.6 percent of Maryland African Americans still plan to vote for the Democratic candidate Ben Jealous

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