{"id":43931,"date":"2021-11-03T11:18:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T17:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/poll-colorado-voters-have-soured-on-democrats-heading-into-2022-election\/"},"modified":"2021-11-03T17:18:00","modified_gmt":"2021-11-03T17:18:00","slug":"poll-colorado-voters-have-soured-on-democrats-heading-into-2022-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/poll-colorado-voters-have-soured-on-democrats-heading-into-2022-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Poll: Colorado voters have soured on Democrats heading into 2022 election"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., listens during a Senate Finance Committee hearing Oct. 19 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Rod Lamkey\/Pool via AP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Colorado voters have a less favorable view of Gov. Jared Polis, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and President Joe Biden compared with four months ago, according to a new poll released exactly a year out from the 2022 election.<\/p>\n

Andrew Baumann, a pollster at the Democratic-firm Global Strategy Group, which conducted the survey, said the results are \u201ccertainly a warning sign\u201d for Democrats.<\/p>\n

The Rocky Mountaineer poll of 800 Colorado registered voters was conducted Oct.19-24 by Global Strategy Group, in partnership with ProgressNow Colorado, a liberal political advocacy nonprofit. The survey was weighted to match Colorado\u2019s voter registration split and had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.<\/p>\n

Global Strategy Group is a reputable pollster with a B\/C rating from FiveThirtyEight, the political data-tracking website.<\/p>\n

Forty-nine percent of voters said they had a favorable view of Polis, compared with 41% who said they have an unfavorable view of the governor. That\u2019s down from June, when the last edition of the Rocky Mountaineer had Polis\u2019 favorability at 56%, with 35% viewing him unfavorably.<\/p>\n

Forty percent of voters said they view Bennet favorably in the new poll, while 27% said they view him unfavorably. That\u2019s down from June when 46% of voters said they viewed him favorably and 38% said they viewed him unfavorably.<\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s numbers took the biggest hit. Just 45% of voters said they view him favorably while 50% said they view him unfavorably. In June, 55% of voters viewed Biden favorably, compared with 42% who viewed him unfavorably.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that the presidential job approval matters in midterms,\u201d Baumann said. \u201cIt\u2019s down here. It\u2019s down across the country. It\u2019s not ideal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"President
President Joe Biden talks with Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, left, and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis after Biden arrived at Denver International Airport on Sept. 14, in Denver. (David Zalubowski\/Associated Press file)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Democrats still hold an advantage over Republicans<\/div>\n

Baumann thinks inflationary concerns and congressional Democrats\u2019 infighting over two major spending bills are contributing to the declining favorability numbers. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been our finest hour,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While Baumann said elements of the poll are concerning, he doesn\u2019t think the numbers reflect a changing political situation in Colorado, which has favored Democrats in the last two election cycles.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing in these data show that the fundamental political calculus in Colorado has changed,\u201d Baumann said.<\/p>\n

Voters, for instance, still said they would back or lean toward backing a generic Democratic legislative candidate over a generic Republican candidate by a 7 percentage point margin if the election were held today. And 52% of voters said they would vote for or lean toward voting for Polis compared with the 35% who said they would vote for Republican gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl, who is currently a University of Colorado regent.<\/p>\n

The poll also asked voters if they would vote for or lean toward voting for Bennet in an election against Republican challengers Eli Bremer, a former Olympian who lives in Colorado Springs, and state Rep. Ron Hanks of Fremont County. Bennet was favored by at least 13 percentage points in both hypothetical matchups.<\/p>\n

Voters also said they trust Democrats more than Republicans when it comes to reducing air pollution and addressing climate change, raising wages for Colorado workers, improving public education and bringing down the cost of health care.<\/p>\n

\"A
A screenshot of a poll memo created by Global Strategy Group and ProgressNow Colorado. \u201cDK\u201d stands for \u201cdon\u2019t know.\u201d<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

When it comes to protecting public safety, handling the economic recovery after the pandemic and addressing Colorado\u2019s rising cost of living, voters said they trust Democrats and the GOP equally.<\/p>\n

Thirty-eight percent of voters said they have a favorable view of former President Donald Trump, compared with 58% who have an unfavorable view of him. When asked about U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, 25% said they have a favorable view of the Garfield County Republican while 38% said they have an unfavorable view of her.<\/p>\n

When asked if they agree or disagree that Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential election, 67% of voters said they agree while 29% said they disagree. Four percent said they don\u2019t know or refused to answer.<\/p>\n

Among Republicans, just 38% said they agree that Biden legitimately won last year\u2019s presidential election, while 57% said they disagree.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, there\u2019s been a little bit of a slip,\u201d said Sara Loflin, who leads ProgressNow Colorado. But she said the poll clearly indicates Republicans \u201cnumbers are still in the toilet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado voters support mask wearing, vaccination<\/div>\n

The poll also asked coronavirus-related questions, revealing mixed news for Democrats.<\/p>\n

In June, 65% of registered voters said they approved of how Polis was handling the pandemic, while 30% said they disapproved and 5% said they didn\u2019t know or refused to answer. When asked this month, 58% said they approved of how Polis is handling COVID-19, while 35% said they disapprove and 6% said they didn\u2019t know or refused to answer.<\/p>\n

While Democratic voters remain supportive of how Polis has handled the pandemic, the October poll shows a decline in support among unaffiliated voters. Fifty-five percent of unaffiliated voters said they approved of the governor\u2019s handling of COVID-19 in the new poll, compared to 63% in June.<\/p>\n

Biden also saw a steep decline in his COVID-related job approval among Colorado voters. Back in June, 63% said they approved of how he was handling the pandemic. That dropped to 50% in October.<\/p>\n

A brighter spot for Democrats in the recent poll is that 54% of voters think Polis and Democrats \u201cgot it about right\u201d when it comes to their handling of the pandemic. Twenty-seven percent said Democrats overreacted while 12% said they didn\u2019t take it seriously enough.<\/p>\n

Republicans in Colorado got much lower marks on the question. Just 31% said the GOP got it about right, while 44% said they didn\u2019t take it seriously enough.<\/p>\n

The poll also asked about requiring health care workers and state employees to be vaccinated, requiring teachers and students to wear masks at schools, and requiring airline passengers to show proof of vaccination before flights. More supported than opposed all three.<\/p>\n

\"A
A screenshot of a poll memo created by Global Strategy Group and ProgressNow Colorado.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Sixty-two percent of voters said they are pro-mask while 30% said they are anti-mask. When asked about getting vaccinated against COVID-19, 74% said they are pro-vaccine while 20% said they are anti-vaccine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe data shows Coloradans are really on one side of the debate about vaccines and masks,\u201d Baumann said.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Joe Biden\u2019s numbers took the biggest hit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[233,663,819,28,4509,716],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-43931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-democratic-party","tag-gov-jared-polis","tag-headlines","tag-poll","tag-president-joseph-biden"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43931"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=43931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}