Majority Of Marylanders Support DC Statehood: Report

WASHINGTON, DC — D.C. statehood may have an uphill battle, but they've got one ally: their neighbors.

A new Washington Post/University of Maryland poll finds that the majority of Marylanders -- 51 percent -- support D.C. statehood, compared to 40 percent who oppose. Nine percent had no opinion.

Those results are in contrast to nationwide attitudes to making D.C. the 51st state. A June Gallup poll suggests just 29 percent support the idea, with 64 percent opposed. More Americans appear to favor Puerto Rican statehood.

The poll was based on a random sample of 860 residents of Maryland, and it was conducted Oct. 9-14.

A House bill that would make D.C. a state -- H.R. 51 -- got its first hearing in Congress in 26 years last month. The bill has strong support in the Democrat-controlled House, but faces opposition in the Republican-controlled Senate and is unlikely to ever reach the president's desk as a result.

Republicans oppose the measure because it would give the heavily Democratic city two U.S. Senators and a member of Congress. They suggest either that D.C. residents should remain without representation or that they should be absorbed into the state of Maryland, which already votes heavily Democratic.

Numerous presidential candidates, such as Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg, have come out in favor of statehood.