Poll Shows

WASHINGTON -- While President Clinton has been wrestling with other issues and fending off attacks by Republicans and Ross Perot, public support for his long-range economic package has dropped dramatically.A poll released yesterday shows support dwindling in the past two months, from 58 percent favoring the president's plan for economic revitalization and 27 percent opposed to only 46 percent supporting the plan and 36 percent against it now. Americans' optimism that the program would help them in the long run has also fallen sharply, from 50 percent hopeful and 32 percent skeptical to an almost-even split between optimists and pessimists -- 39 percent and 37 percent, respectively.

Maryland's predominantly Democratic voters continue to approve of the jobs being done by President Barack Obama and Gov. Martin O'Malley, according to a new poll released today. Two months after his re-election, Obama's job approval stands at 64 percent in the state, while only 35 percent disapprove, according to a survey by Gonzales Research. That represents a 9-point jump from the president's 55 percent approval rating in the state the previous January. O'Malley maintained a 54 percent to 41 percent approval rating, largely because of the overwhelming support of women (61 percent)

President Bush's gains from the Republican National Convention have almost completely evaporated, as four days in the spotlight failed to establish his commitment to change or his ideas for ending the recession, the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll shows.Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas re-established a strong lead, holding a 51 percent to 36 percent edge in the poll taken Sunday and Monday, or about the same margin he held before last week's convention.The poll showed the public had far more interest in hearing about his favorite issues, the economy and health care, than in topics featured at the convention, such as family values and homosexuality.

Today, Gov. Martin O'Malley joins the NAACP and other civil rights groups in an all-out push to abolish capital punishment in Maryland. Advocates say they believe they have the votes in both the Senate and House of Delegates, and a long-standing bottleneck in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee appears no longer to be an obstacle to a floor vote on the issue. Given the governor's commitment to make this legislation part of his agenda, and the turnover in the Senate since the last major push for a repeal in 2009, the odds for abolishing capital punishment in Maryland appear better than ever.

Baltimore County Executive Dennis F. Rasmussen has lost significant support over the past month, with an increasing number of voters now undecided, making his contest with Republican challenger Roger B. Hayden a horse race, according to The Sun Poll.Mr. Rasmussen has the support of 41 percent of the voters, a drop of 11 percentage points from a month ago. That compares to 39 percent for Mr. Hayden, up 3 percentage points over last month. About 20 percent of the voters are now undecided, compared to 12 percent in early October.

DES MOINES - On the issue of tax cuts, a Tribune Newspapers poll shows that the two leading candidates in Iowa are out of sync with half of the Democrats who plan to attend the state's precinct caucuses Jan. 19. Howard Dean, who holds a narrow lead in the Tribune poll, and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, who is in second place, favor the repeal of all of President Bush's tax cuts to fund universal health care and balance the budget. But the poll shows that only 40 percent of likely caucus participants favor such an approach, while 50 percent would prefer an approach that would repeal tax cuts for wealthy families.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - After five months of foreign military occupation and the ouster of Saddam Hussein, nearly two-thirds of Baghdad residents believe that the removal of the Iraqi dictator has been worth the hardships they have been forced to endure, a new Gallup poll shows. Despite the systemic collapse of government and civic institutions, a wave of looting and violence, and shortages of water and electricity, 67 percent of 1,178 Iraqis told a Gallup survey team that within five years, their lives would be better than before the U.S. and British invasion.

WASHINGTON -- The 1992 presidential campaign is enterin its home stretch with Ross Perot newly energized and Gov. Bill Clinton still in the lead but facing a tightening contest with President Bush, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.The new poll, conducted Tuesday through Friday, suggests that Mr. Perot received a considerable boost from his performance in the presidential debates and his weeks of heavy advertising.It indicates that Mr. Clinton's support has dropped since early in the month and that Republican attacks on his trustworthiness may be taking a toll.

As more and more Marylanders make up their minds in the gubernatorial race, Gov. Parris N. Glendening remains locked in a statistical dead heat with Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey, a new poll shows.Glendening holds a slender 47 percent to 45 percent edge over Sauerbrey, a figure that falls within the poll's margin of error. Eight percent of the sample was undecided, according to the survey of likely voters done for The Sun and three other news organizations.The poll, coming less than four weeks before the Nov. 3 election, found that more than two-thirds of the voters have firmly settled on a candidate.

Hamstrung by lackluster approval ratings, Gov. Parris N. Glendening would face a tight race for re-election against Republican challenger Ellen R. Sauerbrey if the election were held today, a new poll shows.Glendening would win 44 percent of the vote to Sauerbrey's 38 percent, with 18 percent undecided, according to the poll of likely voters conducted for The Sun and other news organizations.The slim margin suggests that the race could well produce something of a replay of the 1994 election, a virtual dead heat in which Glendening defeated Sauerbrey by fewer than 6,000 votes.

Despite a multimillion-dollar advertising blitz from one challenger and an aggressive grassroots campaign from another, U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland remains among the safest incumbents in the nation as he runs for a second term, according to a new poll. Potomac businessman Rob Sobhani, running as an independent, has not cut significantly into Cardin's lead though he has pumped millions of dollars of his own money into the race. He may be helping the Democratic incumbent by siphoning some voters away from Republican challenger Daniel Bongino.

Same-sex marriage and the Dream Act are supported by a majority of Marylanders, but voters are just about evenly split on gambling expansion, according to a new independent poll released Wednesday. Supporters of the Dream Act are furthest ahead, with 58 percent of respondents saying they would support it, according to the survey by Gonzales Research & Marketing Strategies. Only 34 percent opposed. The law would allow some illegal immigrants to pay lower, in-state tuition at Maryland colleges and universities.

A new poll released this morning by a gay-rights group shows solid support for the state's new same-sex marriage law, with 54 percent of likely voters saying they would support the measure and 40 percent opposing. The poll was conducted by Hart Research Associates, the same group that does surveys for Gov. Martin O'Malley. The pollster used live callers to contact 504 respondents, and reported a margin of error of 4.5 percent. Hart Research, in a memo, wrote that their results show that "the marriage equality ballot initiative to be in a very strong position to pass in November.

A new poll commissioned by an Anne Arundel County police union shows a majority of county residents who are "aware" of the scandal involving County Executive John R. Leopold think he should resign. The survey showed that 58 percent of the respondents think Leopold should step down, while 44 percent said Police Chief Col. James E. Teare, Sr. should stay in his job. The poll was sponsored by the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, the union representing the county police's sergeants and lieutenants.

A new internal poll released by Democratic congressional candidate John Delaney on Thursday shows that the Potomac businessman has a commanding lead in the 6th Congressional District primary election race. The poll, conducted March 26-27, shows Delaney with 49 percent of the vote compared with 23 percent for state Sen. Rob Garagiola of Germantown. That's an increase over a poll the campaign conducted earlier in March that showed Delaney with 41 percent compared with 24 percent for Garagiola.

An internal poll conducted by Democrat John Delaney's campaign for Maryland's 6th District race shows the Potomac financier is gaining ground against State Sen. Robert Garagiola and is tied in a head-to-head matchup, according to a summary of the survey. The poll, conducted during the first week in February, shows both Delaney and Garagiola receiving 20 percent of the vote. Those figures represent momentum for Delaney, who was down four points in the same poll in November. Both candidates took 21 percent of the vote when undecided respondents were asked if they are leaning toward one candidate or another.

A WBAL-TV poll shows that Roger B. Hayden, the Republican challenger in the race for Baltimore County executive, is running about even with incumbent Dennis F. Rasmussen, but that many voters are still undecided.Mr. Hayden has the support of 43.6 percent of the county's likely voters, Mr. Rasmussen has 41 percent and 15.4 percent are undecided, according to the poll.The poll, conducted by Herbert C. Smith, a political science professor at Western Maryland College, has a margin of error of 5 percentage points.

PRINCETON, N.J. -- President-elect Bill Clinton will soon be able to test the "mandate for change" his election has been said to represent, but there appears to be little political cost to Mr. Clinton if he proceeds with raising taxes on the rich, mandating family leave or removing restrictions on abortion counseling at federally funded clinics.According to a new Gallup Poll, an overwhelming majority -- 80 percent -- of Americans support raising federal income taxes on those making more than $200,000; 17 percent oppose the idea.