Dueling Polls: 'Stick To Jobs,' Or 'Save The Bay'?

Do Marylanders want their government to focus for now on creating jobs over cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay? Or do they think water pollution is a serious problem that will need more government regulation - and maybe some more of taxpayers' money - to reduce?

Those are the seemingly conflicting messages that emerge from a pair of public opinion surveys done in recent weeks - one at the behest of the state's builders, the other at the bidding of a state-funded environmental grant-making group.

More than four out of five Maryland voters want the O'Malley administration to put a higher priority on creating jobs than on restoring the bay, according to the poll done in January by Gonzales Research & Marketing Inc. of Annapolis for the Maryland State Builders Association.

According to the same telephone survey of 802 registered voters, more than half - 57 percent - say economic growth should be the state's main focus, even if it means the environment suffers in the process.  And a slim majority - 53 percent - say they're not willing to pay a penny more for bay cleanup and restoration.

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