By: Nicholas Sohr

More than three-quarters of Marylanders oppose proposals to raise the state’s gasoline tax, according to a study released Wednesday.

Some 76 percent of voters oppose raising the tax by 10 cents, according to the poll conducted for the Mid-Atlantic Petroleum Distributors Association by Gonzales Research and Marketing Strategies Inc.

A gas tax hike was viewed favorably by 23.1 percent.

Gov. Martin O’Malley is expected to announce a package of tax and fee increases to raise more money to spend on transportation.

Opposition to the gas tax hike — the state’s gas tax has been 23.5 cents per gallon since 1992 — is widespread

Some 90 percent of Republicans oppose raising it 10 cents, as do 68 percent of Democrats and 74 percent of independents.

All but a handful — 96 percent — oppose indexing the gas tax to inflation to allow for automatic increases without legislative approval, and 84 percent strongly oppose such a measure.

Only 3 percent came down in favor of automatic gas tax increases.

“This survey confirms what we hear from our customers on a daily basis,” said MAPDA president Peter Horrigan. “Gas prices are too high and now is not the time to raise fuel taxes causing us to pay more.”

The telephone poll of 808 registered voters was conducted from Jan. 9-15. The margin of error is 3.5 percent.