Poll Shows Ehrlich Lagging As He Opens Reelection Run

"I think his first term has gone very successfully considering the odds he's had stacked against him," Caulfield said. "He does not have a popular Republican majority. For him to get anything done is amazing."

The poll indicates that many agree. While Ehrlich's favorability ratings have declined since the last Post poll in 2004, nine in 10 of the state's Republicans have a positive view of him, and nearly six in 10 of those who consider themselves independent feel the same way.

Overall, 56 percent approve of the way he handles his job, three in four say he is honest, even more say he is likable and two-thirds say he "has a vision for the state's future." A majority say he has done a good job protecting the Chesapeake Bay, and, despite his highly publicized battles with the Democrat-controlled General Assembly, six in 10 say he is "willing to make reasonable compromises."

More than seven in 10 say he deserves credit for the state's projected budget surplus.

Republican pollster Ed Goeas, who is not advising a candidate in Maryland, said the reason the Ehrlich-O'Malley matchup numbers do not reflect the generally positive views of Ehrlich is mostly because of the state's Democratic majority.

"People go back to their partisan leanings," he said. "What you have to do in a state like Maryland as you get close to the election, you have to get people to put aside their leanings and look at the person."

It is clear already that Ehrlich is trying to restore his moderate credentials and appeal to those he counted on in 2002. His first television advertisement features testimonials from six women, a black man and a man who appears Latino and includes the line: "He doesn't govern from the right or the left but from the middle, where most of us are."

He recently crossed some conservatives by quickly firing a Metro board member who described homosexuals as "persons of sexual deviancy."

And he could look to appeal to women by naming a female running mate to replace Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, who is running for the U.S. Senate. Ehrlich's list of candidates is almost exclusively composed of women, although the list of candidates running for statewide office this year, Democratic and Republican, is almost exclusively male.

Differences by Jurisdiction

The top two issues that voters want the next governor to "work hardest on" -- public education and crime -- are two on which Ehrlich has most criticized O'Malley. The state moved to seize control of Baltimore's worst-performing schools before Democratic legislators stopped the move, and a state study is underway to see whether the city is underreporting crimes there.

The poll showed great variance, though, on voters' priorities based on jurisdiction. In Prince George's, nearly as many people listed crime as the top priority as did those who said education. In Montgomery, 20 percent said transportation should be the governor's top priority and 13 percent said growth. That compares with 25 percent who said it should be education.

On other issues, Marylanders showed a liberal streak. Although 56 percent said they would oppose a state law that would allow gay and lesbian couples to marry, respondents were just about evenly split on allowing civil unions.

And those in the poll were very negative about the Bush administration and the war in Iraq, with 63 percent saying the war "was not worth fighting."

More than two-thirds say they disapprove of President Bush's job performance -- 55 percent disapprove "strongly." And 56 percent said the fact that Bush was backing a candidate would make them less likely to vote for the candidate, as opposed to 19 percent who said it would make their support more likely.

Staff writers Richard Morin, Matthew Mosk and John Wagner contributed to this report.