Public Policy Polling

Colorado voters support gay marriage

Raleigh, N.C. – Colorado voters like the civil unions bill the legislature passed earlier this year, supporting it by a 50/38 margin. But they'd also like to take it a step further, supporting full marriage rights for same sex couples by a 51/43 spread. Voters under 30 favor it by a 74/17 margin.

Although he is a strong favorite for reelection as Governor next year, there's not a lot of enthusiasm in Colorado for a 2016 John Hickenlooper Presidential bid. Only 21% of voters in the state think he should run to 65% who think he should not, and even among Democrats just 30% would like to see him run with 48% dissenting. Hickenlooper does hold a narrow 47/45 advantage over Rand Paul and Marco Rubio in hypothetical match ups. But even without the benefit of home state advantage Hillary Clinton does slightly better than Hickenlooper in the state, leading Paul 48/45 and Rubio 48/44.

Colorado favors gay marriage

-Colorado voters like the civil unions bill the legislature passed earlier this year, supporting it by a 50/38 margin. But they'd also like to take it a step further, supporting full marriage rights for same sex couples by a 51/43 spread. Voters under 30 favor it by a 74/17 margin.

-Although he is a strong favorite for reelection as Governor next year, there's not a lot of enthusiasm in Colorado for a 2016 John Hickenlooper Presidential bid. Only 21% of voters in the state think he should run to 65% who think he should not, and even among Democrats just 30% would like to see him run with 48% dissenting. Hickenlooper does hold a narrow 47/45 advantage over Rand Paul and Marco Rubio in hypothetical match ups. But even without the benefit of home state advantage Hillary Clinton does slightly better than Hickenlooper in the state, leading Paul 48/45 and Rubio 48/44.

Obama holds 3-point lead in Colorado

Raleigh, N.C. – PPP's newest Colorado poll finds Barack Obama holding onto a small lead over Mitt Romney, 50/47. That's down from a 51/45 advantage before the first Presidential debate and matches the smallest lead PPP has found for Obama in the state all year.

Romney's seen the same kind of improvement in his image in Colorado that he has throughout the country this month. In September his favorability was a net -6 spread with 45% of voters seeing him favorably to 51% with a negative opinion. That's improved by 5 points to -1 at 48/49. Meanwhile Obama's seen a slight decline in his numbers, with his approval dipping from positive ground at 50/47 to break even at 49/49.

Obama's continuing to lead thanks largely to a 51/42 advantage with independents. There's a large generational gap in Colorado with voters under 65 supporting Obama 51/46, but seniors preferring Romney 55/43. Romney has a narrow advantage with white voters at 50/47, but Obama more than offsets that with big leads among Hispanics (59/38) and other non-white voters (59/29).

Obama leads by 3 points in Colorado

PPP's newest Colorado poll finds Barack Obama holding onto a small lead over Mitt Romney, 50/47. That's down from a 51/45 advantage before the first Presidential debate and matches the smallest lead PPP has found for Obama in the state all year.

Romney's seen the same kind of improvement in his image in Colorado that he has throughout the country this month. In September his favorability was a net -6 spread with 45% of voters seeing him favorably to 51% with a negative opinion. That's improved by 5 points to -1 at 48/49. Meanwhile Obama's seen a slight decline in his numbers, with his approval dipping from positive ground at 50/47 to break even at 49/49.

Obama's continuing to lead thanks largely to a 51/42 advantage with independents. There's a large generational gap in Colorado with voters under 65 supporting Obama 51/46, but seniors preferring Romney 55/43. Romney has a narrow advantage with white voters at 50/47, but Obama more than offsets that with big leads among Hispanics (59/38) and other non-white voters (59/29).

Obama has the trust advantage on both the economy (50/46) and Libya (50/44), lending more credence to the thought that Romney botched that issue during the debate on Tuesday.

When Gary Johnson is included in the poll he gets 4% and pulls more from Romney than Obama, pushing the President's lead up to 49/44.

Other notes from Colorado:

Marijuana amendment leads in Colorado

Raleigh, N.C.-- Colorado's constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana usage continues to lead by a 47/38 margin, exactly what we found in the state last month. The ballot language is a little confusing so we also asked a question just in general about whether people think marijuana should be legal and 49% say yes to 43% who dissent.

Democrats (58/24) and independents (54/34) support the amendment at pretty similar levels. Republicans oppose it by a 55/30 margin. There is predictably a wide generational gap on the issue with voters under 65 supporting legalization 50/35, while seniors oppose it by a 53/32 spread.

John Hickenlooper continues to be one of the most popular Governors in the country with 54% of voters approving of him to 29% who disapprove. He was at 60/26 in June though, so he has seen a bit of a decline in his standing this summer. He wouldn't have too much to worry about if he was up for reelection this year though. He leads a generic Republican opponent by a 52/38 margin.

Colorado Miscellany

-Colorado's constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana usage continues to lead by a 47/38 margin, exactly what we found in the state last month. The ballot language is a little confusing so we also asked a question just in general about whether people think marijuana should be legal and 49% say yes to 43% who dissent.

Democrats (58/24) and independents (54/34) support the amendment at pretty similar levels. Republicans oppose it by a 55/30 margin. There is predictably a wide generational gap on the issue with voters under 65 supporting legalization 50/35, while seniors oppose it by a 53/32 spread.

-John Hickenlooper continues to be one of the most popular Governors in the country with 54% of voters approving of him to 29% who disapprove. He was at 60/26 in June though, so he has seen a bit of a decline in his standing this summer. He wouldn't have too much to worry about if he was up for reelection this year though. He leads a generic Republican opponent by a 52/38 margin.

-Ambitious Republicans looking to move up the ladder in 2014 might find the Senate race more enticing. Mark Udall has a 39/33 approval rating with a higher than normal 29% of voters having no opinion about him one way or the other. Udall only leads a generic Republican opponent by a 46/42 margin. Depending on the political climate in 2014 this might be a good pick up opportunity for the GOP.

CO voters favor assault weapons ban, legal pot, civil unions

Raleigh, N.C. – Colorado voters are skeptical that any legislative reforms could have prevented the Aurora tragedy—only 35% think it could have, and 58% think it could not have.  But they overwhelmingly support a renewal of the assault weapons ban, 58-35.  52% of independents, 84% of Democrats, and even 38% of Republicans support that.  Favor for a measure to outlaw certain types of body armor and SWAT Team gear is split, with 41% in support and 40% opposed.

Support has also grown for a ballot measure which would legalize and regulate limited production, possession, and use of marijuana.  When PPP polled the state in mid-June, support for the so-called Amendment 64 narrowly outpaced opposition, 46-42.  In PPP’s first poll of likely voters in this fall’s election, almost two months later, support has grown to 47-38.  This movement is entirely because of independents, who were already in favor of the amendment by a 49-40 margin; they now support it by 30 points, 58-28.  Democrats are still slightly more in favor (59-22) than Republicans opposed (26-61).

Colorado Miscellany

-Amendment 64, which would legalize marijuana in the state, continues to lead for passage. It's ahead 47/38 this month, up a tick from 46/42 on our last poll in June. Independents support the measure by a 58/28 spread.

The support for this initiative is unsurprisingly being driven by young people. Voters under 45 support it by a 58/30 margin, while those over 45 oppose it by a 44/39 margin. On the issue of marijuana usage more generally 50% of voters support it with 42% against, numbers that closely track those on the amendment itself.

-In the wake of the Aurora theater shooting 58% of voters say they would support an assault weapons ban to 35% who are opposed. Democrats overwhelmingly support it (84/12), a majority of independents d0 (52/41), and even 38% of Republicans say they favor such a measure. They don't think any gun laws could have prevented the recent shooting though. 58% say no gun laws could have prevented that tragedy compared to just 35% who believe they could have.

Hickenlooper remains one of most popular governors

Raleigh, N.C. – Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has again been rated as one of the most popular governors in the country.

After polling an impressive 57% approval rating in April, the first-term Democratic governor is now at 60% approval, one of the highest ratings ever recorded for a governor by PPP.

Hickenlooper’s popularity is not limited to Democratic voters—36% of state Republicans and 62% of Independents approve of the governor’s job performance since he took office in 2011.

The Democratic Party in general is doing well in Colorado. If an election for state legislature were held today, Colorado voters say they would vote for Democratic candidates over Republican candidates 46-41. Independents say they favor Democratic legislative candidates over Republican ones, 35-34. Hispanics support Democratic legislative candidates over Republican ones 58-31.

Colorado Miscellany

-56% of Colorado voters would have supported the legislature passing a civil unions bill this year to only 38% opposed. That includes 58/37 support from independents, 65/32 favor from Hispanics, and 66/31 support from young voters.

Legislative Republicans killed the measure and in a perhaps related development Democrats lead the generic ballot in the state by a 46/41 margin. They could pick up a good number of seats this fall with those numbers.

Strong Democratic support from young voters, independents, and Hispanics is why the GOP has lost 5 consecutive Presidential/Gubernatorial/Senate races in the state. The party missed an opportunity here to appear more open minded to those groups it needs to do better with.

-Colorado's initiative to legalize marijuana is starting out with a narrow lead. 46% of voters support it with 42% opposed. Democrats favor it 62/25 while Republicans are nearly a mirror image, opposing it 62/27. Independents break the tie by supporting it 49/40. There is a predictable generation gap on this issue with seniors against it by a 52/30 margin but every other age group in support of it, including young voters by a 58/33 spread.

-It's impossible to say what the political climate will look like in 2014 but for now Mark Udall would be in good shape for reelection pretty much no matter who the Republicans put up against him. Udall has a solid 42/34 approval rating and would lead in hypothetical match ups against 7 different potential GOP foes we tested him against. The strongest of the GOP folks we tested is former Governor Bill Owens, who would trail Udall 47-43. The only other Republican who can hold Udall to a single digit lead is Congressman Mike Coffman, who trails 48-39.