How Well Do Marylanders Understand Their State?

In the premiere episode of Maryland Our Maryland, Dr. Anirban Basu and Louis Miserendino ask a simple question with surprisingly complicated answers: how well do Marylanders understand their own state? Using a recent UMBC Institute of Politics survey as a starting point, they discuss what residents know about the governor’s term, the General Assembly, Maryland’s congressional delegation, and the state’s budget challenges. The conversation also explores civic engagement, election cycles, gerrymandering, political accountability, and the difference between a balanced annual budget and a structural shortfall. They close with a distinctly Maryland debate: Orioles or Nationals? This episode introduces the show’s broader mission to examine Maryland through economics, history, public policy, data, and lively nonpartisan conversation.