A new poll from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) shows the economy, jobs and cost of living are top of mind for Marylanders, while drawing new congressional lines is not.
At the request of President Donald Trump, red states have been redrawing their congressional maps ahead of the 2026 election to pick up some extra seats in the U.S. House in an effort to maintain their narrow majority.
California passed its own proposal to try and counter those efforts, drawing a new map favoring Democrats, and Maryland is one of a handful of other blue states considering entering the redistricting battle.
In the saga’s latest chapter, on Thursday, Dec. 11, Indiana lawmakers rejected a map that would have drawn new lines to favor two Republican pick-ups in the U.S. House.
Gov. Wes Moore created the Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Commission to explore the idea of redrawing the state’s map early. Currently, Democrats hold seven of the state’s eight congressional seats.
The commission held its last listening session on Friday, Dec. 12, where dozens of Marylanders provided their thoughts on redistricting. Hundreds have spoken during public comment in the past month.
The UMBC Institute of Politics’ poll reveals while three-fourths of Marylanders are paying at least “a little” attention to the redistricting discourse, only 27 percent of respondents believe drawing new congressional maps should be a “high priority” for state lawmakers.
Meanwhile, at least 73 percent of those polled ranked the cost of healthcare, quality of K-12 public education and reducing crime and improving public safety as their top priorities.
However, Director of the UMBC Institute of Politics Mileah Kromer, Ph.D., explains three-fifths of Marylanders don’t like early redistricting, but that doesn’t mean all of them are against doing it.
“Within that 61 percent, 21 percent are going to say, ‘I don't like it, but it's necessary.’ So there is some opening for it. I think there are some folks who are willing to consider it,” Kromer said.
Of the 61 percent, the remaining 40 percent like redistricting and believe it should be done.
Kromer explains another part of the problem is that there isn’t true consensus among Marylanders on if the state’s congressional map is drawn “fairly.”
Maryland’s current map was hastily created by lawmakers after a map that would have likely resulted in Democrats winning all eight congressional seats was struck down by the court in 2021.
Poll results show 28 percent of Marylanders believe the district lines are drawn fairly, 41 percent say they are drawn unfairly and 29 percent don’t know whether they’re fair or not.
Of those who said the maps were unfair 33 percent say the current lines favor Democrats and 8 percent say they favor Republicans.
“[Redistricting] is getting overshadowed by very real economic concerns, but folks are also a little bit mixed on what we should actually do,” Kromer said. “So you think about all those together, that maybe in a different reality or different world, that might be something that could be pushed forward. But right now, there's just not a lot of prioritization over it.”
One thing there is consensus on – 81percent of Marylanders think that purposefully drawing congressional district lines to favor one party over another is a major problem for American democracy.
Additionally, 63 percent say they prefer a nonpartisan, independent commission to draw the congressional lines. State lawmakers are in charge of drawing the map in Maryland, which 12 percent of residents are in favor of.
While not yet publicly scheduled, the Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Commission is expected to have at least one more meeting to recommend to the governor whether or not the state should draw new maps.
State lawmakers are holding a special session on Tuesday to elect a new house speaker and consider veto overrides, but have made it clear no other business will be on the agenda.
