To the chagrin of the Annapolis Establishment, Franchot approval ratings soar sky high

Peter Franchot

Marylanders visiting their state capital for a day, far removed from the heavy-handed influence of the provincial Annapolis bubble, could very well be met by a number of political insiders who froth even at the mention of Comptroller Peter Franchot’s name.

But the latest Gonzales Research and Media Services survey numbers show that Franchot’s sky-high approval ratings puncture the Annapolis Machine’s alternate reality, torpedoing the insiders’ notion that Franchot couldn’t possibly be popular among everyday Marylanders.

Au contraire.

65% of voters overall approve of the job Franchot is doing as Maryland’s comptroller: 70% of Democrats, 56% Republicans and 62% of independents.

Regardless of the efforts at the behest of the Machine to weaken Franchot’s statewide image, today’s Gonzales poll results show that “Statewide, an impressive 65% of voters approve of the job Peter Franchot is doing as Maryland Comptroller (30% ‘strongly approve’ and 35% ‘somewhat approve’), while a mere 5% disapprove of Franchot’s performance (1% ‘strongly disapprove’ and 4% ‘somewhat disapprove’).”

A breakdown of Franchot’s latest poll numbers by party, gender and race:

A breakdown of Franchot’s numbers by specific regions:

Statewide, according to the poll’s results, “44% of voters have a favorable opinion of Peter Franchot (19% ‘very favorable’ and 25% ‘somewhat favorable’), while 4% have an unfavorable opinion,” and 25% do recognize the comptroller’s name.

Read the full report: Comptroller Peter Franchot Poll – May 2019.

Gonzales’ page-six synopsis declares “the most striking result in this poll of name identification and job approval for Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot is the near non-existence of negatives for him among voters. Franchot has held statewide elected office for over 12 years – only 5% disapprove of the job he’s doing as comptroller and a mere 4% have an unfavorable opinion of him.”

Franchot reacted to his promising poll results today, releasing a Facebook post:

A comment was left on Franchot’s update asking if intends to run for governor [in 2022].

“To be perfectly honest, I’m going to take a hard look at the race,” Franchot responded.

About the Author

Ryan Miner
Ryan R. Miner, MBA is the founder, editor in chief, and senior reporter of A Miner Detail, the Maryland investigative journalism publication he launched in April 2015. He hosts the A Miner Detail Podcast, distributed across Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and seven other platforms. A native of Hagerstown, Maryland, Miner holds a B.A. in political science from Duquesne University (2008) and an MBA from Mount St. Mary's University (2020). He teaches at Frederick Community College. He is also the founder of Sentinel Silver, LLC, Maryland's first older adult technology institute, and the publisher of The Senior Soup, a Maryland senior advocacy platform. His longer story is at ryanrminer.com. Reach him at Ryan@AMinerDetail.com or (240) 244-7075.