Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post - Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown (left) and Gov. Martin O'Malley speak Friday to hundreds who rallied to support tougher gun ownership laws in the state.
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley was given a hero’s welcome by dozens of college students when he showed up at a rally last week outside the State House.
Taking his turn on the podium before the governor, William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland, pointed to a blown-up bar graph showing that tuition and fees had increased by a smaller percentage than in any other state since 2007.
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley gets little lift from political wins
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“Unbelievable!” Kirwan told the crowd. “That’s because of the great leadership from our governor!”
It probably won’t be the last time O’Malley (D) is congratulated this year in Annapolis, where lawmakers are on the verge of handing him several more big wins, including gun-control legislation and a repeal of the death penalty.
But outside State Circle, the reception is much more frosty.
Only 49 percent of Marylanders approve of the job O’Malley is doing as governor, a new Washington Post poll has found. That’s little changed from the fall but down from his high of 57 percent in September 2010, shortly before his reelection to a second term. It is also well shy of the assessment President Obama receives in deep-blue Maryland (61 percent) and lower than what O’Malley’s Republican predecessor, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., got the summer before he was voted out of office in 2006 (56 percent).
While O’Malley maintains more supporters than detractors (41 percent disapprove), he gets no better than mixed marks from the public on a variety of key issues, including a concerted push he has made since taking office in 2007 to make college tuition more affordable. In the poll, more Marylanders say they think O’Malley is doing a not-so-good or poor job in that regard than say he is doing an excellent or good one.
And while O’Malley is widely touted by pundits as a potential 2016 presidential contender, the poll shows that Hillary Rodham Clinton is wildly more popular in his state.
Clinton, who has not announced whether she will run, is the preference of 56 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents in Maryland. She is followed by Vice President Biden at 18 percent, O’Malley at 8 percent and New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo at 4 percent.
Analysts offered several possible explanations for O’Malley’s mediocre marks. Some said he could do a better job of communicating his accomplishments or that he is an easy target to blame for Marylanders’ continuing economic struggles.
And some suggested he has pushed several polarizing issues in recent years — including same-sex marriage — as he has gained more attention on a national stage.
“He’s taken some very gutsy positions on some controversial issues,” said Thomas F. Schaller, a professor of political science at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. “My suspicion is that’s poisoned the well and brought him down some.”
In the fall, O’Malley won big at the ballot box as Maryland voters approved a handful of measures he championed. But two of those, same-sex marriage and an expanded gambling plan, squeaked by on narrow margins.
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