Colorado polls: How Cory Gardner and John Hickenlooper are polling in the 2020 U.S. Senate election
John Frank, Eric Lubbers The Colorado Sun
UPDATED: 11/2/2020
The U.S. Senate race in Colorado is one of the most watched in the nation because it will help decide whether Democrats take over in the Senate or Republicans retain power after the November election.
U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, a first-term Republican, is one of the most vulnerable incumbents facing reelection, and the polls show his campaign is the underdog, in part because of his allegiance to President Donald Trump, who remains unpopular in the state. Still, his upset victory against a Democratic senator in 2014 and his fundraising advantage in 2020 give his campaign hope for another victory.
The Democratic challenger is John Hickenlooper, the former governor and Denver mayor whom the national party recruited to run after he dropped his longshot presidential bid. He entered the race in a strong position, but after a primary challenge and Republican pressure, the race began to narrow.
To get a sense of where the 2020 U.S. Senate contest stands, The Colorado Sun is tracking the latest state-level polls showing the approval ratings for the Republican and Democratic candidates and the head-to-head contest.
Since October, polls show Hickenlooper with an average lead of 10 percentage points over Gardner, a significant gap.
In 2020, Hickenlooper’s approval rating averages 47% with 44% disapproval. Gardner’s average approval rating is 36% with 48% disapproval this year, down from earlier in his tenure.
Colorado polls: Cory Gardner starts the U.S. Senate contest in negative territory. And the reason why is simple.
(Did we miss a Colorado poll? Email us at johnfrank@coloradosun.com.)
How to read the numbers: The polls featured are all publicly available figures obtained by The Sun or posted online.
For the surveys, the pollsters use a variety of methodologies and different projections for voter turnout in November, making some more reliable than the others. The Sun does not weight polls based on their reliability, but collectively the numbers show the average standing for the candidates. To learn more about the pollsters effectiveness, check the FiveThirtyEight ratings.
Colorado early vote tracker: Here’s a look at the turnout in the 2020 election statewide and in the 11 largest counties
Check back for the latest. This page will be continuously updated.
Sun correspondent Sandra Fish contributed to this report.
2020 U.S. Senate election: Cory Gardner v. John Hickenlooper
A look at head-to-head polling in Colorado between the Republican incumbent senator and Democratic challenger.
THE POLLS
U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner’s approval rating in Colorado
Gardner started with strong job approval numbers after he took office in January 2015, but his image in Colorado began to falter shortly after President Donald Trump’s election and now sits underwater.
Former Gov. John Hickenlooper’s approval rating in Colorado
Soon after winning a second term in 2014, Hickenlooper’s job approval began to grow and he has maintained positive ground since then. However, his disapproval numbers are beginning to rise in Colorado amid political attacks.