Maryland Toplines - January 2, 2008

Maryland

Survey of 500 Likely Voters

January 2, 2008

1* How do you rate the way that George W. Bush is performing his role as President? Excellent, good, fair, or poor?

16% Excellent

20% Good

15% Fair

48% Poor

1% Not Sure

2* How do you rate the way that Martin O’Malley is performing his role as Governor? Excellent, good, fair, or poor?

6% Excellent

27% Good

27% Fair

37% Poor

4% Not Sure

3* 2008 Presidential General Election Match-Ups

Clinton	52%	Clinton	43%	Obama	55%	Obama	48%
Romney	39%	McCain	45%	Romney	34%	McCain	42%
Other	7%	Other	9%	Other	7%	Other	6%
Not sure	3%	Not sure	3%	Not sure	4%	Not sure	4%

4* Favorables for Presidential Candidates

	Clinton	Romney	Obama	McCain
Very Favorable	20%	9%	28%	18%
Somewhat Favorable	31%	38%	35%	51%
Somewhat Unfavorable	15%	29%	17%	17%
Very Unfavorable	32%	16%	17%	9%
Not sure	2%	8%	3%	6%

5* How much will early presidential contests in Iowa and New Hampshire impact your decision on which candidate to support?

2% Very much
18% Somewhat

72% Not at all

7% Not sure

6* More than 25 states will hold primaries or caucuses before the Maryland primary on February 12. Will the Maryland primary make much of a difference in terms of who wins the Republican and Democratic presidential nominations?

17% Yes

55% No

28% Not sure

7* When thinking about how you will vote in the next Presidential election, which of the following issues is most important—the economy, the War in Iraq, immigration, national security, health care, Social Security, or government ethics and corruption?

29% Economy
20% War in Iraq
13% Immigration
13% National security
9% Healthcare
6% Government ethics and corruption
2% Social security

3% Some other issue

5% Not sure

8* The MD General Assembly convenes a new session on January 9. Lawmakers will likely consider revisions to the state's death penalty law. Should the state of Maryland ban the use of the death penalty?

35% Yes

51% No

13% Not sure

9* Should Maryland residents be allowed to vote on whether or not the state should ban the death penalty?

71% Yes

17% No

12% Not sure

10* The recent Special Session of the MD General Assembly resulted in $1.3 billion in new taxes. Was this was the best way to close the state's budget deficit?

17% Yes

62% No

21% Not sure

11* If a Maryland police officer pulls someone over for a traffic violation, should the officer automatically check to see if that person is in the country legally?

66% Yes

25% No

9% Not sure

12* If an officer finds that a person pulled over for a traffic violation is an illegal immigrant, should that person be deported?

55% Yes

23% No

22% Not sure

13* If police officers are required to check the immigration status of every person they pull over, does that create the temptation to discriminate against people based on their name, their accent and the color of their skin?

37% Yes

53% No

9% Not sure

14* Should undocumented immigrants be allowed to get drivers’ licenses?

18% Yes

76% No

7% Not sure

NOTE: Margin of Sampling Error, +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence