Latest Poll Favors Gov. Larry Hogan Once Again In Gubernatorial Election

BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- A new Mason-Dixon poll gives Gov. Larry Hogan another high approval rating and shows his re-election match-ups against the top three Democratic challengers.

Gov. Hogan may end his first term in office with the highest approval ratings in recent history, but that doesn't guarantee a second term.

His approval rating is at 63 percent, 2 points higher than the Goucher poll last month.

"The thing that I care about is the people of Maryland seem to be happy with the job our administration is doing and the direction our state is heading," he said last month. "I'm pleased to see the numbers but I don't pay much attention to the ups and downs of the politics of it."

Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker polls as the leading Democratic contender, but coming in a distant second to Hogan in name recognition, followed by Baltimore County's Kevin Kamenetz and former NAACP president Ben Jealous.

Even with name recognition, Hogan is more than 30 points over that of any challenger. The poll shows Hogan at 51 percent over Baker's 36 percent, if the election were held today.

"I don't need to do a poll. What we need to do is make sure that men and women and children in this city and throughout the state have a great quality of life," Baker said.

In other match-ups, Kamenetz polls 34 percent to Hogan's 49 percent, and Hogan polls at 50 percent in a match against Jealous, with 33 percent.

A Republican re-election campaign in a two-to-one Democratic state makes the Maryland governor's race one of the most closely watched races in the country.

While more than half of Democrats polled approve of the job Hogan is doing, only about a third are inclined to vote for him again, and possibly less than that when he faces the candidate who wins the Democratic primary election.

The Democratic primary election is June 26.

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