Colorado voters hold a dim view of national politics, with nearly 3 in 4 characterizing the political situation as “in crisis.” And further, nearly two-thirds of respondents to a new poll fear political violence will worsen over the next few years.
Overall, the results from the Colorado Polling Institute, with the results released in phases on Thursday and Friday, show a dour outlook dominating the Centennial State 10 months into President Donald Trump’s second term. The poll also was conducted a month into the recently concluded — and record-long — federal government shutdown, and less than two months since the assassination on a college campus of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.
Outside politics, 46% of Colorado voters said they think the economy will only get worse, while another 43% think it’ll only stay about the same — leaving a sliver of voters, just 12%, with a rosy outlook.
“I think it’s a general sense that there’s so many different issues that are weighing on them — they’re concerned about the economy, they’re even concerned about jobs today, it’s not just cost of living anymore. That just combines to be a real downer,” said pollster Lori Weigel, principal of New Bridge Strategy, the Republican half of the bipartisan team behind the poll.
Add in fears of political violence and an overall crisis of governance, Weigel said, and “how can you be sort of positive when you feel like that’s happening?”
Colorado voters are also reeling from the down economy more than the rest of the country, the pollsters found: 61% of respondents said they had cut spending on nonessential items compared to last year, versus 42% of the nation writ large, and 28% of Coloradans said their habits had remained about the same, compared to 43% of the nation.
The poll was in the field Nov. 1-5. The pollsters conducted online interviews with 622 registered voters that featured an over-sample of Hispanic voters to gauge that demographic’s views on certain questions. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
Hits to politicians’ favorability ratings
Coloradans’ souring feelings on politics as a whole have bled over to state leaders, though the changes were often within the margin of error. Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, is now slightly underwater with voters in favorable feelings, at 45% favorable to 46% unfavorable, according to the poll.
It’s a noticeable slip from March, when a bare majority, 51%, of voters held a favorable opinion of the term-limited governor and 40% had an unfavorable view. More voters also hold a very unfavorable view of him now, at 33%, than earlier this year, when it was 26%.
U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat who is up for reelection next year, saw a similar slip, going from 49% favorable to 43% between March and this month. His unfavorable rating was 36% in March and 38% this month.
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat who is now running for governor, saw a similar slip in overall favorability. Voters’ opinions moved from 45% favorable in March to 41% now, and unfavorable opinions ticked up from 31% to 35%.
More than half of all respondents didn’t have an opinion of Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat who is running against Bennet in the primary to be the next governor.
In a Democrat-only breakdown, with a larger polling margin of error of 7.5 percentage points, Weiser suffered from a similar lack of recognition, with 57% not registering an opinion of him and 34% with a favorable view, to 9% with a negative one. Nearly 60% of Democratic voters, meanwhile, had a favorable opinion of Bennet, to 19% with an unfavorable view.
The pollsters did not ask about the two in a head-to-head matchup for next June’s primary.
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