Poll finds opposition to Maryland redistricting ballot question

by Bryan P. Sears, Maryland Matters
September 22, 2026

An effort by Democrats to rewrite the standards for future congressional redistricting efforts apparently isn’t sitting well with a plurality of Maryland voters.

Roughly 4 in 10 voters said they oppose Question 3 and only 28% supported it in a poll released Tuesday by Protect Maryland Votes, a group that is opposing the proposed amendment to the Maryland Constitution. The poll comes just as mail-in ballots begin to go out to Maryland voters and one month before early voting begins.

“This poll confirms what we have always believed, that Marylanders across party lines understand the difference between right and wrong,” said Yuripzy Morgan, a leader of Protect Maryland Votes, in a statement. Morgan is a Republican voter and 2022 congressional candidate.

The poll of 600 likely Maryland voters was conducted between Sept. 10 and 13 by two firms: Ragnar Research Partners and Lincoln Park Strategies, Republican and Democratic polling firms respectively. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4%.

The poll also found:

• 57% of voters surveyed oppose gerrymandering in Maryland. Included in that are 67% of Republicans, 54% of unaffiliated voters and 52% of Democrats.
• Support for letting unaffiliated voters cast ballots in primary elections. More than 7  in 10 Democrats said they favored letting unaffiliated voters participate in primary elections, while 66% of unaffiliated voters said they favored the change, as did half of Republicans.

A spokesperson for a group backing passage of the amendment criticized the Republican polling firm and dismissed the poll.

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“This is a junk poll by a pollster that ought to be too embarrassed to poll in Maryland,” said a statement from Luca Amayo, a spokesperson for Fight Back Maryland. “Ragnar Research Group missed the Maryland Senate race by more than 20 points, and they’re on track to do the same again for Question 3. It’s clear that the pollsters got the results their client paid for.”

In August, Democrats in the General Assembly pushed through a proposed amendment to the Maryland Constitution that, if approved by voters, could set the stage for Democrats to redraw the eight congressional districts as early as next year.

Democrats would likely target the Eastern Shore district represented by Rep. Andy Harris (R-1st). Harris is the lone Republican in the state’s congressional delegation.

Democratic super majorities in both the House and Senate easily passed the amendment along party lines in a two-day special session.

The proposal would supersede a ruling by Judge Lynne Battaglia in a 2022 congressional redistricting challenge. Her ruling tied the recasting of congressional districts to compact and contiguous requirements in the Maryland Constitution.

Circuit Court judges in Anne Arundel and Dorchester Counties found problems with the question and ordered it stricken from the ballot. The Supreme Court of Maryland similarly found problems with the question but opted instead to rewrite it and allow it to go to voters.

“Marylanders want national redistricting reform, but until then, they know we can’t stand by as Trump tries to rig elections to lock in Republican control of Congress and continue the policies crushing Maryland families,” Amayo said. “Question 3 ensures that Maryland voters, not politicians, decide whether to give our state the power to respond to Trump’s power grab.”

Those who participated in the poll were read the question as it will appear on the ballot.

Forty-one percent said they would oppose the question while 28% said they would vote for the amendment to the Maryland Constitution. The remaining 31% said they were undecided.

Just over three-fifths of Republicans oppose the change. Among unaffiliated voters, 37% oppose it and identical number are undecided. Democrats who responded are almost split evenly with 35% in favor of the amendment, 32% against it and 33% who say they are undecided.

In Maryland, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 2-1 margin. When unaffiliated voters are included, registered Democratic voters account for 51.4% of all registered voters in the state.

“When voters hear what this amendment actually does, they reject it,” Morgan said in her statement. “Stripping over 50 years of constitutional protections for fair and compact districts so partisan politicians can draw maps that can never be challenged in court again is wrong, and Marylanders know it.”

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: info@marylandmatters.org.