Anne Arundel County residents said the economy is their top concern, according to a survey by AACC’s Center for the Study of Local Issues.
The semi-annual survey, which drew 873 responses, showed 30% of county residents said the economy is the top concern, compared with 25% who said housing costs are a problem, 20% who chose crime and 18% who pointed to population growth and unplanned development.
In addition, the October survey also had a section for AACC students.
In that part of the survey, 37.4% of students said too many obligations outside of education, such as work or family, is the No. 1 reason they haven’t been successful in school. Mental health is the second-most cited reason with 25.7% of students saying that has prevented them from succeeding.
The results of the countywide poll did not surprise Nataf, he said.
“The economy [is] a central issue and it [is] cross-cutting,” Dan Nataf, the CSIL director, said. “It wasn’t polarized like the threats to democracy on Jan. 6; Democrats care about that [and] Republicans don’t. But inflation? Cross cut. Everybody cares about [it].”
Each survey repeats questions from the prior one to gauge changes in opinion every semester. Last semester, 26% of county residents said the economy was the top concern compared with 30% now. Crime topped the list in fall 2023.
The reason for the bump, Nataf said, is that inflation increased between last fall and now. Consumer prices darted up by 2-3% between September 2023 and September 224, according to the Consumer Price Index.
According to Nataf, the Biden administration did not “act in a decisive and clear-minded way” to combat inflation.
“The Biden years were meritorious despite COVID,” Nataf, a political science professor, said. “[But] they should have done more to slow the economy down sooner. Then they would have taken a hit earlier, but the economy would have come down to a lower point of inflation sooner.”
The survey also revealed that the county’s Republicans and unaffiliated voters are more concerned about the economy than Democrats.
The top concern of Democrats who responded to the poll is housing costs, at 28%, while the big issue for Republicans and the unaffiliated is the economy, at 43% and 42%, respectively.
Samantha Reed, a first-year biology student, said she understands why Anne Arundel County residents are concerned about the economy and housing prices, but her top concern is taxes.
“There are people that are struggling on the street that can’t even, like, afford to buy groceries and Trump is giving tax breaks to people who are, like, way wealthier,” Reed said. “I think that’s kind of idiotic.”
Rabiyatou Bah, a third-year environmental science student, said rapid urban development is her top concern.
“As an environmental science major, I’m very aware of, like, the effects of, you know, urban development,” Bah said. “Not taking into consideration certain things like stormwater management or septic systems or sewer systems … those are things that I think about.”
