Marylanders continue to overwhelmingly favor statewide bans on smoking and assault weapons, a plurality find life without parole an “appropriate” penalty for murder, and a majority approve of the job being done by Gov. Martin O?Malley, according to a new statewide poll released Wednesday.
Slightly different versions of the smoking ban already have passed the House and Senate, and 72 percent of voters favor the ban, up 2 points from January. Two-thirds (66 percent) support an assault weapons ban, but that has already died in a Senate committee.
The poll of 820 registered voters was conducted last week by Gonzales Research & Marketing Strategies of Annapolis and has a margin of error of 3.5 percent.
A majority of Marylanders (57 percent) said they support the death penalty, while 37 percent are opposed. “Support for it has dropped over the last five years,” said Patrick Gonzales, who has been polling in Maryland for more than 20 years.
But when Gonzales asked, “What do you think is the more appropriate sentence for someone convicted of first-degree murder?” 46 percent answered “life without the possibility of parole” and 42 percent chose the death penalty.
“Nothing is ever as simple as it appears,” Gonzales said, and the numbers reflect the complexity of people?s feeling on executions and their use.
Two months after O?Malley?s inauguration, 52 percent of voters approve of the job he?s doing, 21 percent disapprove and 27 percent said they are not yet able to rate him.
“The key thing is less the absolute numbers than the ratio,” Gonzales said, with more than twice as many people with a positive opinion than a negative one. He thought O?Malley?s approval rating was much improved over the negatives that had been driven up by “a pretty brutal campaign,” based on polling he did last year in legislative races.
O?Malley continues to do better with Democrats and women, and his highest approval ratings come from residents of Baltimore City (69 percent) and the Washington suburbs (64 percent), areas he carried in the election.
The General Assembly doesn?t fare as well. A plurality (39 percent) approved overall of its job performance, 28 percent disapproved and 33 percent had no opinion. As an institution, the legislature is “more amorphous” and harder for people to gauge, Gonzales said.
Poll shows support for Gonzales
Marylanders aren?t ready to get rid of U.S. Attorney General Albert Gonzales because of the controversy about the firing of U.S. attorney, according to a poll conducted last week.
The Gonzales Research poll,with a 3.5 percent error margin, found 36 percent of 820 registered voters said he should not resign, 33 percent said he should, and 31 percent are not sure.
“More has to unfold” for people to make up their minds, said pollster Patrick Gonzales (no relation). “It hasn?t reached a critical mass yet.” The poll numbers break down along partisan lines with more Democrats favoring Gonzales? resignation (45 percent) and more Republicans opposed (59 percent).
