A new poll in the Democratic race for comptroller shows incumbent William Donald Schaefer only four points ahead of challenger Janet Owens, with nearly half the voters (45 percent) having an unfavorable opinion of Schaefer.
The former governor and Baltimore mayor is recognized by all but 1 percent of those surveyed.
The poll was conducted by Gonzales Research, an Annapolis polling firm that is being paid by the Owens campaign.
The survey of 621 likely Democratic voters conducted last week found 34 percent supported Schaefer; 30 percent backed Owens, the Anne Arundel County executive; 15 percent went for Montgomery County Del. Peter Franchot; and 21 percent were undecided. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.
A third of the voters didn?t recognize Owens, who leads Schaefer among black voters, and 57 percent didn?t know Franchot.
Schaefer campaign spokesman Laslo Boyd downplayed the results, saying, “I?ve seen a variety of polls that show different outcomes” in the race.
Franchot was more dismissive. “The Gonzales poll isn?t worth the piece of paper it?s printed on,” he said. “Patrick Gonzales is one of my opponent?s pollsters, and his former partner is the campaign coordinator of the other one.”
Boyd hasworked with Gonzales as a campaign consultant.
Pollster Gonzales called it “an extremely close race. It?s just hard to imagine” how undecided voters who know Schaefer so well will not move toward one of the challengers.
Since more of them already know Owens, and she generates positive or neutral feelings among the vast majority who do, Gonzales says he believes they are more likely to move toward her.
