Poll: Bush Support Eroding In Maryland
Dean, Lieberman Lead Democrats In State Poll
POSTED: 9:41 a.m. EDT August 27, 2003
UPDATED: 9:48 a.m. EDT August 27, 2003
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Support for President George W. Bush has dropped significantly in Maryland with voters almost evenly divided now on whether he is doing a good job, according to a poll released Wednesday.
In the poll by Gonzales Research and Marketing Strategies, 48 percent of voters questioned disapproved of the president's performance and 43 percent approved. In an April poll by the Annapolis-based company, 62 percent of voters liked what Bush was doing and only 31 percent disapproved.
The Gonzales poll of 829 registered voters was conducted from Aug. 13 through Aug. 20. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
When Democrats were asked to pick their favorites, Howard Dean with 25 percent and Joe Lieberman with 23 percent were far ahead of the rest of the seven candidates. John Kerry at 11 percent and Richard Gephardt at 10 percent were the only other candidates in double figures.
The poll showed that Bush would be in a tight race with both Dean and Lieberman if the general election were held today.
"The striking and important thing politically is to see the distinction between today and April, the last time we did it (a poll) Gonzales said.
"He's got more voters in the state that disapprove of the job he's doing as president than approve. That's a bad position to be in," he said.
Even with the drop in approval, Bush is doing a lot better than three years ago when he lost Maryland by 17 points, Gonzales said.
Seventy-nine percent of Republicans and 52 percent of independents approved of the president's job performance, but 72 percent of Democrats now give him an unfavorable rating.
John Kane, chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, said it is very early and "we haven't rolled out the campaign yet."
He said with Bush's strong support from Republicans and independents, the president "is certainly going to do better in Maryland this cycle than he did the last time."
Maryland Republicans have already had two meetings with national Bush campaign officials and will be rolling out a statewide campaign in September or October, Kane said.
Isiah Leggett, chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party, said he was not surprised by the drop in Bush's approval rating "based on my contacts and travel throughout the state."
The poll reflects economic problems plus "growing concern that we may be stuck in Iraq much longer than anticipated," he said.
He said he also was not surprised by Dean's good showing among Democrats because he is well organized in the state and has articulated the concerns many Marylanders have about what is happening in Iraq and the feeling of many voters that they were not properly informed before the war started.
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