A poll released Tuesday shows that a Democratic challenger to Howard County Executive Allan H. Kittleman (R) is off to a relatively solid start just a month after declaring his candidacy.
County Councilman Calvin B. Ball III (D) trails Kittleman, the Republican incumbent, in both likely voters and name recognition, but he and his campaign workers were encouraged by the initial findings.
“I think this is extremely positive news,” said Ball, who has been on the Howard County Council since April 2006, when he was named to the seat to finish a term. “It says, ‘you’re on your way, you’re on a very good path.”
In a head-to-head matchup, 39 percent of those voters surveyed said that if the election were today, they would back Ball, while 42 percent said they would vote for Kittleman, who enjoys high name recognition countywide. Nearly 1 in 5 voters polled — 19 percent — were as yet undecided, the survey showed.
More than half the voters surveyed – 54 percent — had never heard of Ball, while 87 percent knew who Kittleman was.
Public Policy Polling, a Raleigh, N.C., firm that works for Democratic candidates, surveyed 617 Howard County voters Dec. 12-13, 2017, by automated telephone interviews. The poll had a 4-point margin of error.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by William F. Zorzi over at Maryland Matters