Poll

With the city on pace to reach 300 homicides this year, only one in four residents say Police Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm is an effective leader, according to a new poll conducted for The Sun. Nearly 40 percent say Hamm, who has been on the job for 2 1/2 years, is an ineffective police chief. "How can I describe Hamm? He is untrustworthy," said Jeanette Ishway, a 64-year-old resident of Old Town who was interviewed for the poll. "He and [Mayor] Sheila [Dixon] got their heads together, and the murder rate is rising.

WASHINGTON -- Americans feel almost as good as last year about their lives and significantly better than two years ago, the annual Harris "feel good" poll reported yesterday.The Harris "feel good index" is 74 percent, down from 75 percent last year and up from 68 percent two years ago. The biggest increases from two years ago came in the category of optimism about the economy, which rose to 68 percent from 40 percent in 1997.Ninety-six percent said they feel good about their relations with their families, 94 percent are satisfied with the quality of their lives, 92 percent like their homes, 90 percent are happy with their health, and 87 percent are happy with their standard of living.

AT LONG last, someone has come up with an opinion poll that tells us something we want to know.The folks at Fox News, the television cable network, have produced a poll that asks the right questions, including:Who would you rather have as your friend -- President Clinton or Vice President Al Gore? The answer: Mr. Clinton 22 percent, Mr. Gore 43 percent.Who do you think it would be more fun to hang out with -- Mr. Clinton or Mr. Gore? Answer: Mr. Clinton 49 percent, Mr. Gore 19 percent.Whoever is elected president will be on television constantly for at least four years.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening's slim lead over Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey has evaporated in the past six weeks and the two are locked in a virtual dead heat, a new poll shows.If the Nov. 3 general election were held today, Glendening would win 45 percent of the vote to Sauerbrey's 44.4 percent, according to the poll of likely voters conducted for The Sun and other news organizations.A similar poll in mid-July found that Glendening was leading Sauerbrey 44 percent to 38 percent among voters who had made up their minds.

WASHINGTON -- In this polls-happy society, the quest never ends to determine what John Q. Public thinks about everything under the sun, even when the answers are obvious beforehand.For example, a new survey of 1,600 registered voters in the states of Ohio and Washington reports that most voters want cleaner campaigns that are less negative. Big surprise.In the bipartisan survey by Democratic pollster Celinda Lake and Republican pollster John Deardourff, voters were asked whether they would have more respect for a candidate who signed a code of conduct and lived up to it. Some 79 percent said they would.

Reach out to conservative Democrats in the suburbs, but don't alienate your base of liberal voters in Baltimore and the Washington area.Publicly write off your leading Democratic opponent, but don't ignore her as the September primary nears.And paint the leading Republican as an extremist, but don't turn off the voters with too much negativity.Gov. Parris N. Glendening's political nimbleness will be tested as he attempts to do all that, and more, seeking re-election in what is shaping up as a down-to-the-wire race in November, according to interviews with political observers and an analysis of a poll released last week.

Howard County Executive Charles I. Ecker, undeterred by a recent poll showing him far behind in his bid to become the Republican nominee for governor, has scheduled a fund-raising picnic Aug. 21 at a West Friendship farm.Ecker, who plans to announce the beginning of his gubernatorial campaign in October, has been quietly raising money and speaking to groups for several months.The picnic at Nixon's Farm on Route 32 will be his third fund-raiser.The picnic will cost $25 for adults, $10 for children for a menu of fried chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad and ice cream.

The standings of President Clinton and Sen. Bob Dole remain relatively unchanged from two months ago, despite events that could have roiled the presidential race, including the convictions of Clinton's former business partners and Dole's resignation from the Senate, the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll shows.The survey also found that economic concerns have receded somewhat as a concern and that crime has become the most important problem for voters, even though federal statistics show dramatic drops in many big cities' crime rates.

WASHINGTON -- Although a majority of Americans say that they closely follow the daily turns of the O. J. Simpson trial, the number of people across the nation watching television news shows or reading newspapers continues to decline, according to a new poll to be released today by a media monitoring group.The Times Mirror Center for the People and the Press estimated -- based on its survey results -- that about 40 million people, or about 24 percent of the adult public, are watching "all or most" of the daily, live Simpson coverage and that about 59 percent "watched, read or heard" about the trial coverage.

President Clinton has widened his lead in Maryland over any of the declared Republican candidates, including the GOP front-runner, Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, according to a poll released yesterday.Mr. Clinton, who came to Baltimore County for a fund-raiser last night, would lose to only one potential candidate, retired Gen. Colin L. Powell, the poll showed.Though he is not a declared candidate, Mr. Powell has come out ahead in many polls around the country. Now on a tour to promote his recently published memoirs, Mr. Powell is expected to decide soon on a run for office.

Should BGE be allowed to levy a mandatory surcharge on residential customers to install "smart meters" that could save money for people who use less electricity at peak times? Yes 8% No 89% Not sure 3% (1,195 votes, results not scientific) Next poll: : Do you agree with the University System of Maryland board's decision not to establish a policy on the showing of pornographic films? Vote at baltimoresun.com/vote

Do you approve of the health care reform bill passed over the weekend by the House of Representatives? Yes 21% No 74% Not sure 5% (1,477 votes, results not scientific) Next poll: : Was the Baltimore City Health Department right to confiscate 19 arabber horses, which it says were living in poor conditions? Vote at baltimoresun.com/vote

Will the deal allowing Constellation Energy to sell half its nuclear business to the French EDF Group (approved by the Public Service Commission and both companies) be good for Maryland? Yes 64% No 26% Not sure 10% (1,005 votes, results not scientific) Next poll: : Is the statue of William Donald Schaefer that was unveiled at the Inner Harbor this week an appropriate tribute to the former mayor, governor and comptroller? Vote at baltimoresun.com/vote

Were officials correct to disqualify a cross country athlete from Hereford High School for a minor uniform violation, costing his school a first place finish? Yes 27% No 67% Not sure 6% (1,239 votes, results not scientific) Next poll: : Will the deal allowing Constellation Energy to sell half its nuclear business to the French EDF Group - approved by the Public Service Commission last week and the companies Monday - be good for Maryland? Vote at baltimoresun.

It may be the second-most-noteworthy thing about the now infamous poll conducted during City Councilwoman Helen L. Holton's 2007 re-election campaign - the response to a name-recognition question. After serving on the council since 1995, and thinking she might have a shot at a citywide office in the future, Holton surely had to be taken aback by these results: More than half of the respondents in her district either didn't know who she was or were only vaguely familiar with her. The most noteworthy thing about the poll, of course, is why Holton is probably better known at this point: The survey was paid for by developer Ronald Lipscomb, and it forms the basis of her indictment in January on charges of bribery, perjury and misuse of office.

The tenor of the presidential campaign turned sharply negative this week, but the mud-slinging will likely have little effect on next month's election as long as the U.S. economy remains in turmoil, political observers said. "They can attack each other, they can throw pies, it just doesn't matter," said Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. What does matter, experts said, is the economy. A Gallup poll this week reported 69 percent of Americans pinpoint the economy as the nation's most critical problem, which means that even as insults and slurs clutter the campaign trail, the election will likely hinge on how Barack Obama and John McCain respond to what many are calling the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

I've seen women scream at her, with the kind of high-pitched emotion you generally reserve for an intimate. I've seen other women link arms with her, talking confidingly as with a girlfriend. But no matter the tenor of the encounter, they all tend to call her Sheila - no title, no last name. That would be "Mayor" and "Dixon." And, according to a poll conducted last week for The Sun, she is ahead of the pack competing for the title in the coming election. She leads her closest competitor, City Councilman Keiffer Mitchell, 47 percent to 15 percent, according to the survey taken last week by the independent pollster OpinionWorks.

With the city on pace to reach 300 homicides this year, only one in four residents say Police Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm is an effective leader, according to a new poll conducted for The Sun. Nearly 40 percent say Hamm, who has been on the job for 2 1/2 years, is an ineffective police chief. "How can I describe Hamm? He is untrustworthy," said Jeanette Ishway, a 64-year-old resident of Old Town who was interviewed for the poll. "He and [Mayor] Sheila [Dixon] got their heads together, and the murder rate is rising.

WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan majority of Americans strongly supports the bills that whisked through the House in the first days of the Democratic-controlled Congress, but many remain uncertain about where the party wants to lead the nation, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found. Approval of Congress has increased since the midterm election ousted Republicans from their House and Senate majorities, and Democrats are viewed in a more positive light after two weeks in power, according to the survey.

Maryland's new electronic voter check-in system, which poll workers across the region reported would abruptly shut down and reboot during Tuesday's primary, had never been used before during an election, the manufacturer acknowledged yesterday. At one Baltimore precinct, poll worker Al Samples, a 38-year-old computer scientist, said he could not prevent the three small check-in stations made by Diebold Election Systems Inc. - called e-poll books - from suddenly turning off. The machines crashed about 40 times, he said.