By Adam Pagnucco.
A poll has been commissioned in Congressional District 6. Congressman John Delaney currently represents the district, but he is considering a run for Governor and many potential candidates are mulling a run for what would be his open seat. The pollster called Merry Eisner Heidorn, a former General Assembly staffer and school board candidate, and she kindly provided details of the call.
The call was made by a live caller and lasted twenty minutes. The first three minutes collected demographic information, including age, gender, zip code, county and party. This was followed by questions on voting tendency, including whether the respondent understood what primaries were, voted for candidates or only on party label, had voted in gubernatorial as well as presidential elections, intended to vote in the 2018 primary and had voted in past primaries. Then the caller asked about the respondent’s opinions on Donald Trump, Larry Hogan, the economy and other issues.
Next, the caller asked, “So if John Delaney runs for Governor, would you support his run for Governor?” This was followed by five to seven minutes of favorability questions on three potential candidates to succeed him – Total Wine co-owner David Trone, State Senator Roger Manno (D-19) and Delegate Bill Frick (D-16). The caller then zeroed in on Trone, asking about a series of issues pertaining to him and then asking how each impacted the respondent’s favorability towards Trone and the likelihood to vote for him. The specific issues raised about Trone included the fact that he had never held office, had contributed money on behalf of his business to politicians of both parties, had run for office before and was a “successful businessman from Potomac.” At the conclusion of the call, the pollster asked, “Now that we have talked about David Trone, has your desire to vote for him changed?”
This is a fairly standard bio- and message-testing poll. The pollster is attempting to gauge support for a possible run in CD6 both across the entire sample and among a number of key sub-groups. Trone is known to be considering a run in CD6 and has polled previously on the Montgomery County Executive race. This poll along with Trone’s establishment of campaign office space will fuel further speculation on what race, if any, he will enter. The entire Montgomery County political class is watching.
