Marylanders continue to feel pinched from all sides as costs rise.
A poll released Tuesday by the Institute of Politics at the University of Maryland Baltimore County found that pocketbook issues made up four of the top six issues for Maryland residents,
“Marylanders care about affordability more than anything,” said Mileah Kromer, the poll director. “This issue of monthly household electric bills is a persistent and top-of-mind issue for them.
Affordability concerns outpace crime, which was in sixth place, and “politicians, Trump, federal … or state government,” was in fourth.
“Economic issues are winning the day, period,” Kromer said. “So much so that I was able to actually slice and dice the types of economic issues. That’s how big of a chunk it was.”
Expenses described to pollsters as “less affordable” than a year ago include:
- Groceries, 72%
- Gasoline, 71%
- Electric bills, 69%
- Housing, 65%
- Entertainment and recreational activities, 59%
- Health care, prescriptions and medication, 57%
Kromer’s latest poll finds that few people wanted to talk about crime and public safety, education or even transportation.
“The only thing that Marylanders really want to talk about, it seems … is the economy. It’s the economy and things involving the cost of living,” she said.
The poll surveyed 804 Maryland adults between March 17 and 22. Of those, 731 identified as registered voters. The margin of error for part one of the poll is plus or minus 3.5%.
At the time of the survey, the war with Iran was 17 days old. The average cost of a gallon of regular gas in Maryland was $3.77.
“I think that set the stage,” Kromer said. “The war was just starting, and then there was conversation around what this will do to gas prices. That was part of the national discourse at this point in time.”
Part two of the poll, including updated job approval ratings for Gov. Wes Moore (D) will be released Wednesday. A day later, Kromer will release polling on how closely Marylanders follow state politics as well as “Major League Baseball fandom” in the Free State.
Democrats and Republicans started the 90-day session in January talking about affordability issues. With two weeks remaining, it is clear that addressing those issues is complicated.
Meaningful long-term solutions are proving more elusive.
Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) Friday said the energy market is in “flux.” He described PJM, operator of the nation’s largest regional power grid, which includes Maryland, as “in a bit of a crisis.”
PJM “has not appropriately forecasted and planned for the level of investment and generation” to support the modern economy, he said.
“That is the context in which Maryland is operating,” Ferguson told reporters. “I say that because we have a number of levers, but we don’t have all of the levers to be able to deal with the energy supply crisis that we’re dealing with. So we do have to do short-term fixes.”
Included in those short-term fixes is $100 million for rate relief. The amount is half that set aside last year. Another $37 million could be allocated to cap rates for low-income residents.
A real solution requires more power generation in the state and region, Ferguson said.
Kromer, in her polling, released comments from some of those surveyed.
Those comments — the names of those surveyed were redacted — covered a range of emotions and reactions.
“People are smart and they recognize through their own spending and their own pocketbooks, that things are more expensive than they were a year ago,” Kromer said. “They’re extremely worried about it.
“I think it’s notable that nearly 40% of Marylanders say that both affording groceries and food, they’re extremely concerned about it, or paying their utility bills every single month,” she said. “That is not an unsubstantial number.”
About 35% of those surveyed described the general state of their electric bills. One respondent said: “The electricity bill has skyrocketed over the last few months. A normally $250 bill is $700 plus. Super unaffordable.”
About 13% expressed anger and outrage.
“Angry and confused,” one person told the poll. “I don’t know why it’s suddenly so much higher despite my usage being the same.”
Still others, about 13% of those asked, expressed fear, stress and frustration.
“I’m pretty worried about being able to keep up with my electric bill along with the other bills, as well,” one respondent said. “It has been a struggle
Another said, simply: “I am afraid it is getting too expensive.”