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December 6, 2025

Cambridge Spy

Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Cambridge

News COVID-19

Spy COVID-19 Daily Update Nov. 9

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Trends in Md. are heading the wrong way

COVID-19 trends in Maryland are continuing to head in a negative direction, with the 7-day positivity rate and number of patients currently hospitalized hitting their highest numbers in more than four months.

• The 7-day positivity rate for Nov. 8 was 5.05%; that rate last topped 5% on June 24. The 5% threshold is a reopening guideline set by the Centers for Disease Control. The World Health Organization has said rates should remain at 5% or below for 14 consecutive days before officials should allow reopening.

• As of Monday morning, 707 patients were hospitalized for coronavirus. Maryland last topped 700 patients currently hospitalized on June 17.

• In the last six days, Maryland also has had more than 1,000 daily new cases, marking the longest such streak during this pandemic. Maryland reported five consecutive cases of new cases topping 1,000 from May 6-10.

• The total number of COVID-19 cases worldwide has topped 50 million.

Key points for today

• Dorchester County COVID-19 cases remain at 887, according to the county health department.

• The county’s 7-day average positivity rate is 5.77%.

• The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maryland is now at 155,371, an increase of 1,375 in the last 24 hours.

• In the last 24 hours, 9 people died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 4,072.

The Spy obtains information for this chart between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Statewide data is updated about 10 a.m. each day; counties may update data throughout the day until 5 p.m. Johns Hopkins updates its data throughout the day.

* Maryland and Cecil County report the total released from isolation.

** For Kent County deaths, The Spy reports its own tally based on the number of state-reported deaths within Kent County facilities and the number of non-facility deaths. For Queen Anne’s County deaths, The Spy reports the total deaths listed on the county’s website. There are discrepancies among state and county statistics concerning total deaths and facility deaths.

Key metrics

• The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients increased by 52 over the last 24 hours.

• There currently are 707 people hospitalized — 539 in acute care and 168 in intensive care.

• Of the 23,527 test results received Nov. 8, the positivity rate was 6.72%; the 7-day positivity rate was 5.05%.

For additional COVID-19 graphics and links to resources, click here.

 Additional information

• A total of 3,678,109 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Maryland; this number does not represent the total number of patients tested as some patients have been tested multiple times. The state reports 1,882,274 people have tested negative.

• Of the state’s 155,371 cases, 17,833 patients have ever been hospitalized for treatment; 8,297 have been released from isolation.

The graph below shows the total cases, total ever hospitalized, and total deaths statewide.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

In an Anxiety-Ridden Year, U.S. Voter Turnout Rate Highest Since 1900

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More people voted in this year’s election than ever before, some motivated by fear, some by peer influence, some by the wide options available for voting, some by social media and still others by love or hate for President Donald Trump.

As of Thursday, an estimated 159 million people, accounting for 66.4% of the eligible voting population, cast ballots in this election, according to the University of Florida’s United States Elections Project. That exceeds the turnout percentages for the past 120 years, going back to the 1900 race, when 73.2% of the voting eligible population cast ballots, ultimately re-electing President William McKinley over Democratic challenger William Jennings Bryan.

“High turnout is a sign of a healthy democracy,” Michael McDonald, who runs the Elections Project, wrote in USA Today on Wednesday.

He also pointed to a pre-election Gallup Poll in which 77% of registered voters said the 2020 election mattered more to them than previous elections – the highest level since the polling firm started asking that question in 1996. Still, over one-third of voting eligible people did not cast a ballot in this election.

Experts say fear of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and about the economy, strong feelings about Trump, the current social climate and peer influences, among other factors, spawned this historic turnout. And many states still are tabulating ballots.

Following an established pattern since at least 2000, turnout rates were especially high in key swing states. Over 75% of eligible voters cast ballots in Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Iowa, while over 70% of eligible voters did so in Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina and Florida. Georgia received ballots from just under 70% of eligible voters.

“There’s a couple of things going on there,” said Michael Hanmer, research director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civil Engagement.

“The feeling that something more is at stake could be part of the internal motivator” for individual voters, Hanmer said, in states where, because of the Electoral College system, a vote for Trump wouldn’t have much impact in a state that voted Democratic, and a vote for Biden wouldn’t count for much in a state that voted Republican.

Voters in the battleground states don’t have that concern. Campaigns spend more energy and money in states that could go either way.

“It’s harder in those states to ignore what’s going on. It’s going to be on TV, it’s going to be on radio, it’s more likely to be on their social media, they’re more likely to get a door knock,” Hanmer said.

Non-swing states with especially high turnout rates, estimated by the Elections Project, were Maine, Minnesota, Colorado, Washington and Oregon – all saw three-quarters or more of their eligible voters cast ballots. Maryland ranked fifteenth in voter turnout, with just over 72% of eligible voters, according to the Elections Project estimates.

The availability of mail-in voting and early voting due to the coronavirus pandemic may have contributed to high turnout in some states. In Maryland, about half of the state’s voters mailed in their ballots.

Historically, states that regularly conduct elections by mail, such as Oregon, have greater voter turnout than those states that traditionally do not use the mails for balloting.

In Pennsylvania, where ballots still were being counted, Secretary of State Kathy Bookvar told reporters Thursday that she expected a very high turnout in the battleground state.

“Pennsylvanians have had more choices this year than in the history of the commonwealth,” she said.

Hanmer said that voting law changes to accommodate the pandemic likely generated some turnout, but added that since even many states that did not make these changes, like Texas, saw increased turnout, there were other factors at play as well.

“I really think that the turnout story for this election is more about general interest and mobilization,” Hanmer said.

The pandemic may have been responsible for some of this mobilization: “We’ve had our lives upended and we’re in this environment where our physical social circles have largely shrunk, and we’re really hard pressed to avoid coverage of what’s going on in the news,” Hanmer said.

David Paleologos, director of Suffolk University’s Political Research Center, said usually “what increases voter turnout is the quality of the candidates,” but this year is historic in that high voter turnout seemed to be primarily motivated by fear.

“it’s just ironic to me that Joe Biden … has the ability to get the most votes, ever, ever, and he’s not the person that people are excited about,” Paleologos said.

Memories of Hillary Clinton’s loss in 2016 may also have spurred additional turnout for Biden.

“People didn’t get out to vote because they assumed she was going to win,” Paleologos said, adding that there wasn’t “that element of surprise” this time around.

Hanmer also suspects social media and peer influence contributed to the high turnout.

“A lot of people were engaged this year in contacting other people, and I mean just regular people contacting their friends, not necessarily always part of some wider formal campaign activity,” Hanmer said. “That’s just been increasingly common as a tactic.”

Alexandra Palm, a 24-year-old nanny and pizza deliverer in Spokane, Washington, said she did not want to vote this year, but was shamed into casting a ballot for Biden.

“On social media is where I felt shamed a lot,” Palm said. She said that it wasn’t usually personally directed toward her, but “if I ever brought up that I was not voting, there was never a time when someone would just ever respect that decision, ever.”

Instead, she said people told her she couldn’t complain about election results if she didn’t vote, and that if she didn’t vote for Biden it counted as a vote for Trump. Her father and people on social media told her “you have to vote, you have to vote, you have to vote,” she said.

Ralph Watkins, a volunteer with the League of Women Voters, said “just the tone overall seemed to be far stronger than in many recent elections.”

“Democrats were very passionate about wanting to turn (Trump) out of office, and many Republicans were equally passionate about wanting to keep (Trump) in office,” Watkins said.

Watkins said the pandemic and the resulting economic downturn generated turnout along party lines: those who worried more about the economy tended to vote Republican, while those who worried more about the pandemic tended to vote Democrat.

Additionally, “concerns about racism are really critical, and turnout in African American areas was very high and very democratic,” Watkins said.

Marqus Shaw, 35, of Oklahoma City, voted for Biden — his first time voting. He said it was mainly to vote against Donald Trump.

“(Biden)’s better than Trump to me,” Shaw said. “Trump just says things that you shouldn’t say, he shows no compassion, and he’s a racist.”

In the past, Shaw said, he has felt like his vote wouldn’t matter, but this year he said he “just can’t take Trump anymore.”

Paleologos said turnout driven by fear “doesn’t bode well for the system at large” and may indicate a failure of the party system.

“If we’re going to have two parties, the key is for the party system to enable and support candidates who have broad appeal,” he said. “Right now we don’t have that. Right now the party system thrives on negativity.”

By Gracie Todd and Luciana Perez Uribe

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Spy COVID-19 Daily Update Nov. 8

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Key points for today

• Dorchester County COVID-19 cases remain at 887, according to the county health department.

• The county’s 7-day average positivity rate is 4.94%.

• The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maryland is now at 153,996, an increase of 1,081 in the last 24 hours.

• This marks the fifth consecutive day in which the number of new cases in the state exceeded 1,000. The only other time Maryland had a similar streak was May 6-10.

• In the last 24 hours, 11 people died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 4,063.

The Spy obtains information for this chart between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Statewide data is updated about 10 a.m. each day; counties may update data throughout the day until 5 p.m. Johns Hopkins updates its data throughout the day.

* Maryland and Cecil County report the total released from isolation.

** For Kent County deaths, The Spy reports its own tally based on the number of state-reported deaths within Kent County facilities and the number of non-facility deaths. For Queen Anne’s County deaths, The Spy reports the total deaths listed on the county’s website. There are discrepancies among state and county statistics concerning total deaths and facility deaths.

Key metrics

• The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients increased by 23 over the last 24 hours.

• There currently are 655 people hospitalized — 492 in acute care and 163 in intensive care.

• Of the 30,266 test results received Nov. 7, the positivity rate was 4.21%; the 7-day positivity rate was 4.62%.

For additional COVID-19 graphics and links to resources, click here.

 Additional information

• A total of 3,654,459 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Maryland; this number does not represent the total number of patients tested as some patients have been tested multiple times. The state reports 1,872,296 people have tested negative.

• Of the state’s 153,996 cases, 17,730 patients have ever been hospitalized for treatment; 8,291 have been released from isolation.

The graph below shows the total cases, total ever hospitalized, and total deaths statewide.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Spy COVID-19 Daily Update Nov. 7

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Key points for today

• Dorchester County COVID-19 cases increased by 8 to 887, according to the county health department.

• The county’s 7-day average positivity rate is 4.81%.

• The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maryland is now at 152,915, an increase of 1,410 in the last 24 hours. This marks the fourth consecutive day in which the number of new cases in the state exceeded 1,000.

• In the last 24 hours, 6 people died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 4,052.

The Spy obtains information for this chart between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Statewide data is updated about 10 a.m. each day; counties may update data throughout the day until 5 p.m. Johns Hopkins updates its data throughout the day.

* Maryland and Cecil County report the total released from isolation.

** For Kent County deaths, The Spy reports its own tally based on the number of state-reported deaths within Kent County facilities and the number of non-facility deaths. For Queen Anne’s County deaths, The Spy reports the total deaths listed on the county’s website. There are discrepancies among state and county statistics concerning total deaths and facility deaths.

Key metrics

• The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients increased by 23 over the last 24 hours.

• There currently are 632 people hospitalized — 479 in acute care and 153 in intensive care.

• Of the 36,489 test results received Nov. 6, the positivity rate was 4.57%; the 7-day positivity rate was 4.54%.

For additional COVID-19 graphics and links to resources, click here.

 Additional information

• A total of 3,624,193 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Maryland; this number does not represent the total number of patients tested as some patients have been tested multiple times. The state reports 1,862,399 people have tested negative.

• Of the state’s 152,915 cases, 17,627 patients have ever been hospitalized for treatment; 8,284 have been released from isolation.

The graph below shows the total cases, total ever hospitalized, and total deaths statewide.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Spy COVID-19 Daily Update Nov. 6

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Key points for today

• Dorchester County COVID-19 cases increased by 7 to 879, according to the county health department.

• The county’s 7-day average positivity rate is 5.2%.

• The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maryland is now at 151,505, an increase of  1,541 in the last 24 hours. This marks the third consecutive day in which the number of new cases in the state exceeded 1,000 and the third highest one-day increase in cases during the pandemic.

• In the last 24 hours, 11 people died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 4,046.

The Spy obtains information for this chart between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Statewide data is updated about 10 a.m. each day; counties may update data throughout the day until 5 p.m. Johns Hopkins updates its data throughout the day.

* Maryland and Cecil County report the total released from isolation.

** For Kent County deaths, The Spy reports its own tally based on the number of state-reported deaths within Kent County facilities and the number of non-facility deaths. For Queen Anne’s County deaths, The Spy reports the total deaths listed on the county’s website. There are discrepancies among state and county statistics concerning total deaths and facility deaths.

Key metrics

• The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients increased by 21 over the last 24 hours.

• There currently are 609 people hospitalized — 457 in acute care and 152 in intensive care.

• Of the 35,366 test results received Nov. 5, the positivity rate was 5.19%; the 7-day positivity rate was 4.37%.

For additional COVID-19 graphics and links to resources, click here.

 Additional information

• A total of 3,587,697 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Maryland; this number does not represent the total number of patients tested as some patients have been tested multiple times. The state reports 1,851,665 people have tested negative.

• Of the state’s 151,505 cases, 17,537 patients have ever been hospitalized for treatment; 8,262 have been released from isolation.

The graph below shows the total cases, total ever hospitalized, and total deaths statewide.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Md. Voters Back Statewide Ballot Questions

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Maryland voters said state lawmakers should have more say over the annual budget and voted for the legalization of sports and events betting.

There were two statewide ballot questions up for vote on Nov. 3.

Question 1 will allow the Maryland General Assembly to make changes to the budget proposed by the governor as long as the total does not exceed the governor’s proposed budget.

Currently, state lawmakers may not increase budget items or add new items to the governor’s proposed budget. Once the budget is passed, it cannot be changed or vetoed by the governor.

With passage of Question 1, state lawmakers could move spending between agencies and/or add spending for new items as long as the total budget doesn’t exceed the governor’s proposed budget.

The governor would be able to veto items added or increased by state lawmakers.

The change will begin with the 2024 budget, presented during the 2023 legislative session.

Maryland voters approved the constitutional amendment by 74% for to 26% against.

Question 2 asked voters whether commercial gaming should be expanded to sports and events betting “for the primary purpose of raising revenue for education?”

Maryland voters approved the measure 67% to 33% against.

Maryland will join Washington, D.C., as well as nearby states of New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York in legalizing sports gambling.

Lawmakers are expected to discuss and vote on additional details like who should get sports wagering licenses after the state legislature convenes in January.

Sen. Craig Zucker, D-Montgomery, and other lawmakers envision casinos and racetracks to be able to obtain sports wagering licenses, which could allow Marylanders to place bets on professional and college sporting events.

Zucker told Capital News Service that the Washington Football Team could obtain a sports betting license if owner, Daniel Snyder, keeps the organization in Maryland.

According to Zucker, sports betting would generate between $20 million and $40 million per year that would likely go into public schools.

“It’s a pretty non-political, non-partisan issue that both parties agree is good for the state of Maryland in terms of capturing that lost revenue especially during this global pandemic,” Zucker said. “The economy has been hurt and sports betting would help fill in some of the holes that we’ve seen with education funding.”

Capital News Service reporters Philip Van Slooten and Ryan McFadden contributed to this article.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

‘Just Wear the Damn Masks,’ Hogan Urges Marylanders

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Family get-togethers and “house parties” are the leading causes of infection

Amid clear signs that COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations are increasing across Maryland, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) warned Thursday that the state is entering “a pivotal moment” in the fight against the virus. 

But he did not re-impose restrictions on business activity, travel or social gatherings. 

Instead, he implored residents to follow the established advice of public health professionals.

Speaking to reporters at the State House, in remarks carried on live television, Hogan used blunt language to shake precaution-weary Marylanders out of any complacency they may be feeling. 

Masks, he said, “are the single best mitigation strategy we have” for containing a virus that — as of Thursday — had killed 4,035 residents.

“It’s not that hard,” the governor said. “Just wear the damn masks.”

Hogan said Maryland’s positivity rate is lower than 42 other states — and it’s been below the CDC-recommended guideline of 5% for 133 consecutive days.

But he said the state has “entered the red zone” on another metric: Maryland now has 15 cases for every 100,000 residents, a 22% increase over last week. In addition, the 1,198 new cases reported on Thursday represented the highest single-day total since July 25. 

Eighteen Maryland counties now have case counts above 10 for every 100,000 people. 

“The warning lights are starting to flash on the dashboard,” Hogan said. “We cannot afford to let our guard down. … We should not and we cannot become complacent.” 

While he was not ordering any rollbacks on business activity or social interaction, Hogan — a businessman before entering politics — said would not hesitate to take any steps deemed necessary to protect public health and avoid a surge in cases that could overwhelm the state’s hospitals. 

The governor urged residents to:

• Wash hands frequently 

• Avoid travel to areas with high infection rates

• Avoid crowds

• Telework, if possible

• Exercise extreme caution with regard to holiday gatherings

Data gathered through the state’s contact tracing operation made clear that family get-togethers and “house parties” are the leading causes of infection, the governor said.

He urged local health departments and police to step up enforcement actions against businesses and individuals who flout state rules on masks and gatherings. And he said any jurisdiction that chooses a more cautious path on restaurants, stores and other business activity would have his “full support.” 

While he said it is “indisputable” that the nation has entered the third wave of infection, Hogan said Maryland has been preparing for just this moment for many months. He said the state has stockpiled equipment, opened field hospitals and streamlined credentialing for medical professionals in anticipation of a cold-weather spike. 

Dr. David Marcozzi, COVID-19 Incident Commander for the University of Maryland Medical System, echoed Hogan’s warnings about the importance of individual actions.

“We are entering a period of high risk in these next few months, as the virus spreads more easily when we gather indoors together,” he said. “Recent data is concerning.” 

Marcozzi said it’s important that people seek medical care if they feel ill and take all medications prescribed by their physicians for non-COVID conditions, to keep their health up. 

His voice cracked and he had to pause his remarks as recalled the loss of a friend to suicide — a reminder of the importance of mental health and reaching out to one another, he said. 

Hogan said improvements in treatment methods and therapeutics were making hospital stays shorter and less severe, though he expressed concern that — while the rise in new cases is most prevalent among young adults — the increase in hospitalizations is hitting mostly seniors. 

“The straight truth is that this virus will be with us well into next year,” he said. “In fact, our worst time may be over the next couple of months.” 

While he did not mention President Trump by name, Hogan mocked a series of false claims about the virus that sounded like the president’s many discredited musings and Twitter posts — like how COVID-19 would be gone “by Easter,” July 4th or “the day after the election.” 

“The people that said that were dead wrong,” Hogan declared. “There is a lot of disinformation and misinformation and people that aren’t taking it seriously.” 

By Bruce DePuyt

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Pollsters Missed the Mark Again — Md. Political Pros Ponder What Happened

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As ballots from Tuesday’s election continue to be tallied, America finds itself in the throes of an ever-tightening presidential race that no one really saw coming.

Many pollsters, once again, missed the mark with projections for the victor of the 2020 election, which they projected to be a clear-cut win for Joe Biden in the presidential contest and congressional Democrats around the country.

Instead, no victor has been declared yet in the White House election, and Democrats lost seats in the House and may not make any gains in the Senate.

“THE POLLING INDUSTRY is a wreck, and should be blown up,” read the Politico Playbook newsletter Wednesday morning.

But what went wrong — in 2016 and 2020 — and why does it keep happening?

Jim Burton, a pollster and former executive director of the Maryland Republican Party, told Maryland Matters in a Wednesday phone interview that polls aren’t meant to serve as a crystal ball, but rather a “snapshot” of where voters’ heads are at the time they’re taken.

“There are polls out there that maybe they didn’t come up with the exact figure on how an election broke, but one thing about polls is they are a snapshot in time, and they’re not to be … like ‘hey, here’s what exactly is going to happen,’” he said. “It’s saying ‘here’s what it looks like at that time.’”

Polls may just be a “snapshot” as Burton suggests, but Steve Raabe, owner of OpinionWorks, an Annapolis survey research firm, said they also tend to contain merely surface questions.

“If you focus on just the horse race question [of] ‘Who do you support?’ not only are you just getting a snapshot in one point in time, but you are also not measuring strength of support, or a person’s propensity to change their mind, or who their second choice is or if they could ever vote for the other candidate — there’s many other factors,” he said. “So good polling is going to take all those sorts of things into account.”

Raabe said that it’s important to deploy other data gathering methods, like focus groups, to really get inside of the mind of the voter.

“Many people are conflicted,” he explained. “They feel one way about a candidate, and another way about a candidate and it’s important to try to sort out those cross-currents and that’s really hard to do in a snapshot poll.”

Good polling is reliant not only upon getting to the deeper questions, but how voters are reached.

Raymond Glendening, a Maryland-based Democratic political strategist and former national political director for the Democratic National Governors Association, called polling an industry “on the backslide in terms of its reliability.”

Pollsters still heavily lean on outdated sourcing tactics, like calling people on the phone — often even on landlines.

“It’s a changed electorate,” Glendening told Maryland Matters in an interview Wednesday. “It’s a younger one.”

While some polling outlets have shifted their eyes to cellphone and web polls to meet the moment, he said most of the industry has hesitated to adjust.

“I think when balanced, the majority of the industry has been incredibly slow compared to most to adapt and to innovate and to reflect … the changing demographic that exists among the voter base number one, and then just the technical ability to reach them,” Glendening explained.

Raabe called it “a major mistake” for pollsters, including the Washington Post, to continue to survey the general public solely by phone.

“The telephone non-response rate has absolutely spiked in the last several years,” Raabe said. “And so pollsters are now having to literally dial 100 or more live phone numbers to get one person to respond, so you have to really wonder who those non-responders are.”

Glendening, who has worked on a series of federal, congressional, presidential and state-level races in the last 15 years, said that polling has become “a helpful, ancillary tool” rather than a compass for campaigns to determine what audiences they need to reach and how.

“To some degree, I think that there is kind of this growing sense that, just from an entire industry perspective, it’s something that we can’t continue to put our entire campaign fortunes — or lack thereof — around,” he said.

But political insiders aren’t the only consumers of political polls: The general public tends to put a lot of stock in data gathered by pollsters and translated by media outlets.

Asked if he thinks that the public should continue to invest themselves in pre-election polling, Glendening’s answer was “a firm no” on the basis that “less-than-reliable outlets … can really jade and skew public opinion, both as it pertains to the competitiveness — or lack thereof — of a race, but also just in terms of where they should be focusing their attention.”

Glendening pointed specifically to two 2020 examples: Democrat Amy McGrath’s failed campaign against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Jaime Harrison’s unsuccessful run against Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

McGrath and Harrison collectively raised nearly $200 million during the 2020 election cycle: a “jaw-dropping, eye-opening, blow-your-hair-back-and-turn-it-gray number” for two Democrats in traditionally Republican states, said Glendening.

He said that their campaigns “cherry-pick[ed]” polls that showed them within “striking distance” of their opponents, in races that they had a slim chance of winning, to funnel cash from small donors into their campaigns that could have been used in “truly competitive races.”

“I think that … the fact that a really, really, really healthy percentage of the polling outfits, let’s just say are subpar at the very, very best, are not always skewing public opinion in terms of what’s real and what’s not, but it is fundamentally changing how some of these races are being funded at the grassroots level and thus changing the ultimate electoral map.”

‘He’s an anomaly for all of us’

For some political professionals, President Trump seems to be the monkey wrench in the polling system.

“Let’s face it, he’s an anomaly for all of us,” Glendening said. “I mean, he’s not just an anomaly to polls, he’s also an anomaly to do fact-checking on, is an anomaly to do counter-messaging on, is an anomaly to do any kind of real, cohesive and coherent response to because he’s kind of just an outlier of a political organism.”

Glendening attributes this to two factors: a “guilty dishonesty” among surveyed voters who may feel uncomfortable publicly disclosing their support of him and messaging from Trump’s camp and centrist Democrats.

“I think you’re going to have the Bernie [Sanders]/[Rep.] Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.)] left , that’s going to look at this thing and say, ‘this is exactly what we said,’ and feel very righteous about, ‘we had a moderate, inside the Beltway, typical standard-bearing candidate, and because of that, we didn’t draw a diverse and vast enough choice here and this is what we get,’” he said.

“And I think that you’re going to have the more establishment elements of the party that are going to say that this is largely a problem because there were Republicans, and particularly Trump, [that] were able to effectively paint Biden as too far left,” Glendening added.

“Clearly, there’s a lot of tension in the messaging that’s based in the polling, and I think that reflected in the result.”

Raabe said that he thinks pollsters missed out on the “vigor and the size of the Trump turnout” in a year where attempting to measure voter turnout was already destined to be complicated because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I have wondered throughout this year if national pollsters like the New York Times or somebody who’s trying to dive down into individual states is able to do it with success just because it’s so tricky to poll any state,” Raabe explained, “and to poll a state you don’t really know is hard in any year, but this year it’s particularly hard.”

Raabe also brought up the notion of undecided voters who swung in Trump’s direction in the election’s 11th hour.

But he said that it may be too soon to tell what happened with the polls.

“I think these are unknowns still and I think some of these factors will be sorted out in the coming weeks and months as everybody takes a look to try to figure out what happened,” he said.

Although more analysis is necessary, Americans may have reverted back to the era of voting for the straight party ticket, Raabe said.

“We’re back with people voting straight ballots and that’s been borne out in the last two elections and very much so yesterday as far as I can see.”

Of lessons he hopes that pollsters got out of Tuesday’s election, turning to newer technology to reach voters and restructuring questions were at the top of Raabe’s list.

“I also think we just need to look backwards and do more analysis on what really did occur,” he said. “You had a super turnout yesterday and so, Trump actually performed well and Biden seems to perform just a little bit better — not as well as the polls would have predicted, but we’ll see in the end when all the mailed-in ballots are counted just how far off all these polls were.”

By Hannah Gaskill

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Spy COVID-19 Daily Update Nov. 5

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Key points for today

• Dorchester County COVID-19 cases increased by 8 to 872, according to the county health department.

• The county’s 7-day average positivity rate is 5.68%.

• The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Maryland is now at 149,964, an increase of 1,198 in the last 24 hours. This marks the second consecutive day in which the number of new cases in the state exceeded 1,000.

• In the last 24 hours, 10 people died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 4,035.

The Spy obtains information for this chart between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Statewide data is updated about 10 a.m. each day; counties may update data throughout the day until 5 p.m. Johns Hopkins updates its data throughout the day.

* Maryland and Cecil County report the total released from isolation.

** For Kent County deaths, The Spy reports its own tally based on the number of state-reported deaths within Kent County facilities and the number of non-facility deaths. For Queen Anne’s County deaths, The Spy reports the total deaths listed on the county’s website. There are discrepancies among state and county statistics concerning total deaths and facility deaths.

Key metrics

• The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients decreased by 7 over the last 24 hours.

• There currently are 588 people hospitalized — 431 in acute care and 157 in intensive care.

• Of the 27,944 test results received Nov. 4, the positivity rate was 5.02%; the 7-day positivity rate was 4.21%.

For additional COVID-19 graphics and links to resources, click here.

 Additional information

• A total of 3,552,331 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Maryland; this number does not represent the total number of patients tested as some patients have been tested multiple times. The state reports 1,840,059 people have tested negative.

• Of the state’s 149,964 cases, 17,435 patients have ever been hospitalized for treatment; 8,255 have been released from isolation.

The graph below shows the total cases, total ever hospitalized, and total deaths statewide.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Hogan Sees Silver Linings in National Election Results

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Even as former vice president Joe Biden inches closer to victory in the cliffhanger presidential contest, Maryland Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) ― who wrote in Ronald Reagan on his presidential ballot ― sees silver linings in this week’s election results.

“There’s no question it was a pretty good night for Republican candidates up and down the ballot,” Hogan said during a webinar Wednesday with Washington Post national political reporter Robert Costa.

Symbolically sporting a purple tie, Hogan declined to say whether he thought a potential Trump defeat would be good for the Republican Party. But he did note that “common sense conservatives” ― most of them unaffiliated with Trump ― outperformed the president just about everywhere on Tuesday.

Hogan endorsed six Republicans this fall ― Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, Maine Sen. Susan Collins, three members of the House of Representatives, and a House challenger ― and all but one, the challenger, New Jersey state Sen. Tom Kean Jr., prevailed.

All are center-right Republicans who, like Hogan, appeal to women, minorities and suburban voters far more than Trump. Hogan pointed out that he has outperformed Trump by “45 points” in Maryland ― a reference to the president’s 30-point deficit to Biden in the Free State, along with Hogan’s 13-point re-election victory in 2018.

Hogan has been the rare Republican officeholder willing (and sometimes even eager) to criticize Trump. Hogan frequently rails against ideological extremists in both political parties, and suggests voters are sick of Washington, D.C., insiders and believe political leaders ought to emphasize compromise over confrontation.

Responding to a question by Costa, Hogan was sharply critical of Trump’s televised address to the nation at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, in which he declared victory in the White House contest but suggested that fraudsters were trying to take it away.

“I thought it was outrageous and uncalled for and a terrible mistake,” Hogan said.

He added that every ballot needs to be counted and that Americans need to be patient before drawing conclusions about the election results.

Asked what he would say to a President-Elect Biden if they had a brief conversation about the COVID-19 pandemic, Hogan said he would counsel Biden to resist pressure from the progressive wing of his party during policy debates. Pressed about specific advice on addressing COVID-19, Hogan said he would urge Biden to work with Congress on a deal on relief funding as quickly as possible and would urge him to expedite development of a coronavirus vaccine.

“I’m afraid we’ve still got many months ahead in this tremendous struggle, both on the public health side and the economic side,” he said.

Asked whether he had any interest in running for president in 2024, Hogan demurred, saying it was premature to talk about 2024 when the 2020 election hasn’t been resolved yet ― and that he wanted to “stayed focused on the day job.”

But pressed by Costa, Hogan asserted that win or lose, Trump would continue to wield enormous influence over the GOP, but that other voices and points of view should be welcomed into the conversation about the future of the party.

Hogan predicted that while there will be 15 Republican candidates for president in 2024 “who want to become the next Donald Trump,” there would be a far smaller “common sense lane” whose candidates would appeal to many voters.

“I think looking to a common sense governor is not such a far-fetched idea,” he said.

By Josh Kurtz

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.