Democrat Jared Polis holds a comfortable seven-point advantage against Republican Walker Stapleton in Colorado’s governor’s race, according to a new bipartisan poll.
The poll is the first public look at the top-of-the-ticket contest and comes days before the first prime-time TV debate, co-hosted by CBS4, CPTV, KOA Radio News and The Colorado Sun.
The survey of self-described likely voters showed Polis at 47 percent and Stapleton at 40 percent. An additional 11 percent were undecided.
Polis built his lead with significant leads in three key areas:
- An 18-point advantage among self-described unaffiliated voters, where he stands at 46 percent compared to 28 percent for Stapleton.
- A 17-point advantage among women, where he showed 52 percent and Stapleton received 35 percent.
- A 20-point advantage among voters under age 55, where he sits at 53 percent and Stapleton gets 33 percent.
Stapleton leads among voters over age 55 and holds a slight edge among voters who make more than $75,000 a year. For voters with no degree, Polis holds a slight advantage within the margin of error, which is plus-or-minus 4 percentage points, the poll found.
(Scroll to the right on the graphic for more data)
Keating Research, a Democratic firm, and Magellan Strategies, a Republican outfit, jointly conducted the poll Sept. 18-20 on behalf of Healthier Colorado, an advocacy organization that supports tougher regulations on tobacco products and supports expanding government-run Medicaid health coverage.
The poll asked the question about the governor’s race at the start — before introducing other topics. Healthier Colorado conducted the survey to help boost its advocacy agenda.
The likely voters who answered the poll also expressed strong support for:
- A proposal to “allow people with limited or expensive health insurance options to purchase a health insurance plan from the state Medicaid program.”
- An increase in the age to buy tobacco products to 21 by regulating them “the same way we regulate alcohol and marijuana”
- A tax hike on e-cigarettes and vaping products
- Attorney General Cynthia Coffman’s decision to file a lawsuit against prescription opioid companies
- The idea that “state government play a role in ensuring Coloradans have access to quality and affordable healthcare”
- A red flag law that “allows a judge to take guns temporarily from someone who is determined to be a significant risk to themselves or others, based on evidence presented to the judge”
The survey questions did not include potential downsides to these proposals nor the cost to implement them.
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