January 30, 2020

Maryland Voters Support a Progressive, Pro-Worker Agenda

Voters also prioritize public education and are receptive to expanding revenue sources

As stagnating wages continue to take a toll on the middle class, a recent poll commissioned by the State Innovation Exchange (SiX) shows Maryland voters value quality public education in the state and are strongly supportive of a progressive, pro-worker economic agenda.

Education

On an open-ended question education was Marylanders top priority, with nearly one in four respondents volunteering it as their answer. Increasing revenue to fund public education is also broadly and intensely popular among voters. Voters supported proposals to close corporate loopholes (79 percent), tax tobacco products (77 percent), levy a carbon tax on companies (71 percent) and legalize and tax the sale of marijuana (67 percent).

Putting More Money Into the Pockets of Working Families

Maryland voters also strongly support policy solutions that will put more money into the pockets of working families. Maryland voters want action to rebalance the economy, they support policies including: 

  • Establishing a program that provides six weeks of guaranteed paid family leave (87 percent support, 12 percent opposition);
  • Guaranteeing overtime at time and a half pay for those who make $55,000 a year or less when they work more than 40 hours a week  (80 percent support, 13 percent opposition);
  • Expanding the state’s earned income tax credit  (81 percent support, 15 percent opposition); and
  • Creating a Children’s Savings Account program (66 percent support, 27 percent opposition).

Worker Protections

Maryland voters are also almost universally on board with a series of reforms to protect workers against predatory employers in Maryland:

  • Protecting workers against employer retaliation (86 percent support)
  • Ensuring paystub transparency (86 percent support)
  • Extending collective bargaining rights to all public sector employees (78 percent support)
  • Preventing the misclassification of workers 69 percent support (25 percent opposition).

Click here to see the polling memo and here to see a presentation of the results.

TargetSmart designed and administered this telephone survey. The survey reached 500 adults, age 18 or older, who indicated they were registered to vote in Maryland. The survey was conducted from December 4-8, 2019. The overall margin of error is +/- 4.4%. The margin of error for subgroups is larger and varies. Percentage totals may not add up precisely due to rounding.

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