Yesterday, The Sun published the results of a poll it ran asking the usual question, the one that begins with, “If the election were held today…”

At best, these are baseline results, meaning that they are before any of the candidates is really campaigning, certainly not full-on they way they’ll be running around beginning in January and increasingly so the closer we get to April.

So, whoever you’re supporting, don’t get excited one way or the other. It’s a baseline poll, to compare against later polls that are taken after candidates begin campaigning, get their name recognition up and their issues and proposals out there.

What’s interesting isn’t the results, it’s the sample. The Sun, like everybody always does, is polling “likely voters,” people who voted in the previous one or two elections.

We, Baltimore Rising, on the other hand, are interested in increasing voter turnout. That means going after what we call “reluctant voters,” the ones who haven’t been voting recently. We believe that if we turnout these voters, whatever decision the people make when the polls have closed on April 26, it will be better for the city.

Voter turnout for the 2011 Democratic primary was only 25%, round numbers. For the Presidential primary in 2012, less than 15%. Is that really how we want to hire our Mayor and City Council, with just 15% to 25% of registered voters making decisions this important for the rest of us? For all of us?

No. Baltimore Rising believes in majority rule.

P.S.  Here’s the video that The Sun included with its article.