Maryland Matters

The UMBC Poll Got It Wrong. Here's Why.

UMBC’s polls is built on a tub of assumptions that include the idea that our state’s marginalized communities would willingly participate in a web-to-text poll.

Earlier this week, the UMBC Institute of Politics released a poll claiming that Maryland Governor Wes Moore enjoys a 52% approval rating among Marylanders. But as someone who attended UMBC for undergrad and now studies democracy and governance at Georgetown, I know a thing or two about polling methodologies, and this one is very flawed.

At best, the UMBC Poll presents an incomplete snapshot of public opinion; at worst, it paints a misleadingly rosy picture of Moore’s standing among Maryland voters. A closer look at its methodology and sampling bias reveals why we should be deeply skeptical of its conclusions.

1. The Poll Likely Oversampled Establishment-Linked Voters in Key Counties

The geographic distribution of respondents raises red flags. The poll sampled a fair proportion from Montgomery County (17%) and Prince George’s County (15%), which are home to large numbers of political insiders, and Maryland establishment-aligned interest groups. The Moore-Miller administration has pulled heavily from Montgomery County's legislative lineup in particular to fill senior ranks in the administration. Many of these appointments have been seen as pay-for-play.

However, these two counties are far from monolithic. Montgomery County’s UpCounty region is majority-minority and heavily immigrant, yet it routinely experiences voter turnout below 25% in Democratic primaries. These residents—many of whom have experienced government repression in their home countries—tend to be more skeptical of government agendas and unlikely to engage in web-to-text polling. Moreover, Scientific American published an insightful article in October 2024 that highlighted that American election polling has become significantly less reliable.

Yet, the poll does not adjust for the low primary turnout rates in these communities or their historical distrust of establishment-backed politicians like Moore. This self-selection bias likely tilts the sample in favor of white, establishment-linked respondents while sidelining a more representative cross-section of Maryland’s electorate.

Source: Montgomery County Board of Elections Turnout Data

2. Self-Selection Bias Favors Pro-Governor Respondents

The mode of data collection is another major issue. The UMBC Poll used a mix of live-interviewer phone calls (17%) and text-to-web responses (56%), a format that skews toward politically engaged, higher-trusting, and establishment-aligned respondents.

Why does this matter? Immigrant-heavy communities, particularly in UpCounty Montgomery and many parts of Prince George’s, have long histories of over-policing, government surveillance, and political repression. As a result, residents in these communities are likely to be wary of responding to government-adjacent surveys—especially through traceable digital platforms like text-to-web, which was highly relied upon by the pollsters.

This creates a massive self-selection bias, where the respondents most likely to trust government and approve of Moore are overrepresented, while those more skeptical or disengaged are effectively excluded.

Source: Pew Research on Digital Polling Bias

3. The Question Order and Wording Skew Responses

Even before considering the sample issues, the way the survey questions were asked could have inflated Moore’s approval rating.

  • The poll asked whether respondents approve of how Moore is handling his job—but without specifying what aspects of his governance were being evaluated.

  • Respondents were not given a neutral option, meaning those who might otherwise say “I don’t know” were forced into an approval/disapproval binary, which inflates approval among disengaged voters.

  • The only option available to reflect neutrality were “Don’t Know” or “Refused to Answer”. This again suggests an inherent bias by those conducting the poll.

  • Pollsters often prime respondents by placing approval questions after more neutral or positive framing. Without seeing the full question order, we can’t rule out order effects artificially boosting Moore’s approval.

Source: American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) on Question Bias

4. The Poll Contradicts Economic Sentiment and Misrepresents Working-Class Voters

Perhaps the biggest reason to question Moore’s supposed 52% approval is that it doesn’t align with economic sentiment in the same poll:

  • 67% of Marylanders say the economy is poor or fair.

  • 49% say the state is on the wrong track, compared to just 42% who say it’s moving in the right direction.

  • The majority of respondents earn over $75,000, with 32% making over $125,000. Lower-income voters—who are most impacted by economic downturns and tend to be more skeptical of establishment politicians—appear underrepresented in the poll.

If nearly half of Marylanders think the state is heading in the wrong direction, why would a majority approve of the governor’s performance? The answer likely lies in the sampling and response bias discussed earlier. Moore’s real approval rating may be far lower among the broader electorate, particularly among working-class and immigrant communities who feel left behind.

Source: Scientific American on Polling Accuracy

5. The UMBC Poll Is a New and Unproven Operation

The UMBC Institute of Politics only launched its polling operation in August 2024, meaning this is only their second statewide poll.

  • Their methodologies and sampling techniques are still being refined, and with such a limited track record, it’s difficult to assess their reliability.

  • This lack of historical polling data makes it hard to determine whether their margins of error and weighting techniques are sound.

Conclusion: A Poll That Misses the Bigger Picture

Polling is only as good as its methodology, and the UMBC Poll fails to capture the full reality of Maryland’s political landscape. By oversampling party loyalist hotzones, underrepresenting skeptical immigrant communities, and relying on a response-biased methodology, the poll creates an illusion of broad support for Wes Moore that likely does not exist.

If UMBC wants to be taken seriously as an institution producing credible political research, it must acknowledge and correct these deep methodological flaws in future polling. Until then, take its 52% approval rating with a tablespoon of salt.

Source: UMBC Poll Methodology Statement

Maryland’s Bait-and-Switch on Disability Funding: Don’t Be Fooled

The Moore-Miller administration is engaging in a deliberate misinformation campaign regarding their so-called restoration of funding for the Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA). Their latest press release claims that they are only cutting funding for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 by 6%. To the untrained eye, that might seem like a reasonable compromise. But let’s break this down.

Maryland’s fiscal year ends on June 30. This means that this “restored” funding only extends for four more months—until June 30, 2025. What happens after that? FY 2026 begins on July 1, and the Moore-Miller administration has conveniently ignored that looming reality. There has been no commitment to restoring full funding beyond this brief window.

The Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) is Maryland's primary state agency responsible for funding community-based services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Established to ensure that these individuals have the support needed to lead fulfilling lives, the DDA collaborates with various stakeholders to provide resources that promote inclusion, participation, and active citizenship. In recent years, the DDA has faced significant financial challenges. Beginning in 2021, the agency started exceeding its annual budget, with notable spending surges in 2023 and 2024. Analysts have struggled to pinpoint the exact causes of this overspending, but contributing factors include new caregiver payment methods, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and rising program and administrative costs.

This is a classic bait-and-switch tactic. As someone who has spent my entire adult life working in Maryland politics, I can recognize the playbook: trick the disabilities community into believing that funding has been restored, run out the clock on the legislative session (and therefore the appropriations process), and then, when July rolls around, bury the issue under political distractions—most likely grandstanding against the Trump administration. By then, it will be too late. The General Assembly will be out of session, meaning there will be no immediate way to allocate more money for DDA programs.

I am a Democrat. When I ran for office, I was endorsed by progressive organizations, labor unions, and immigrant rights groups in part because of my fierce advocacy for disability funding and caregiver rights. I also personally know many people working in this administration. In good faith, I have remained silent on many political matters, hoping that—despite being some of the worst people I know—they would at least govern well.

But this is unacceptable. These are real people’s lives. Not being able to pay caregivers a living wage means families like mine will be forced to make impossible choices—giving up careers, sacrificing financial stability, and struggling to provide 24/7 care that no single person can reasonably handle alone.

Just last week, a program director broke down crying on the phone with me for an entire hour. They had to inform disabled clients that their DDA-funded services would soon disappear. Many of these individuals can barely speak, feed themselves, or move independently. They are disabled for life. The programs that serve them are not luxuries; they are lifelines. They provide dignity, community, and inclusion. The Moore-Miller administration is willing to rip all of that away—unless the press and grassroots activists fighting them today continue to hold their feet to the fire.

Let’s be clear: the Moore-Miller administration’s latest announcement is dishonest, manipulative, and condescending. This is nothing more than performative virtue signaling, meant to pacify critics without making any real commitment to our most vulnerable citizens.

We in the disabilities community will not be fooled. Additionally, I fear that by speaking out, my own family may face retaliation. My siblings, who rely on DDA-funded services, could be targeted through bureaucratic neglect or delays as a way to silence me. This would be an unforgivable abuse of power, and I will be watching closely for any signs of retribution.

Do better, Wes Moore and Aruna Miller. Not everything in life is a photo op.

For more detailed information on this ongoing issue, consider reviewing the following articles:

These sources provide comprehensive insights into the challenges facing the DDA and the potential impact of the proposed budget cuts on Maryland's disability community.