Alsobrooks leading Hogan by 5 points in Maryland Senate poll

Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) is leading former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) in the state’s closely watched Senate race, a new poll found.

The survey, conducted by Gonzales Research & Media Services, found Alsobrooks leading with 46 percent of statewide voters compared to Hogan’s 41 percent if the election were held today. Eleven percent of respondents said they were still undecided.

More than 70 percent of Democrats said they would support Alsobrooks, but 21 percent said they could cast their ballot for Hogan. Likewise, 82 percent of Republican voters said they would support Hogan and just 5 percent backed Alsobrooks.

Hogan also has the edge among independent voters: 31 percent of independents said they will vote for Alsobrooks and 41 percent said they will vote for the former governor. Twenty-eight percent of independents were undecided, according to the survey, which was first reported by The Washington Post.

The poll comes on the heels of Alsobrooks delivering a prime-time speech at the Democratic National Convention last month.

Hogan, who was elected to two terms and was one of the country’s most popular governors, has made the Senate race competitive despite Democrats enjoying a nearly 20 point margin in polls in the presidential race.

Hogan earned a 50 percent favorability rating even though just 41 percent said they would vote for him this fall.

Alsobrooks is still facing a major gap in name recognition — and nearly all of the voters who said they are undecided also said they didn’t know who Alsobrooks is, the survey found.

Forty percent of voters had a favorable view of her, 7 percent had an unfavorable view and 27 had a neutral view, while 34 percent said they don’t recognize her name.

That’s compared to just 1.6 percent of voters who said they didn’t recognize Hogan’s name.

Hogan has moved to middle throughout his campaign, particularly on abortion where he has called himself “pro-choice.” He also drew the wrath of former President Trump after saying Americans should “respect” the guilty verdict in his New York hush money case.

Just 54 percent of Republicans had a favorable view of Hogan in the poll, barely higher than 53 percent of independent voters and just 7 points above his 47 percent favorability among Democrats.

According to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ polling average, Alsobrooks has a 4.3 point lead over Hogan.

The Maryland survey was conducted Aug. 24-30 among 820 voters. It has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.