Coloradans have gloomy outlook on economy, elected leaders — and fear rise in political violence, poll finds

Colorado voters hold a dim view of national politics with nearly in characterizing the political situation as in situation And further nearly two-thirds of respondents to a new poll fear political violence will worsen over the next sparse years Overall the results from the Colorado Polling Institute with the results published in phases on Thursday and Friday show a dour outlook dominating the Centennial State months into President Donald Trump s second term The poll also was conducted a month into the in the past few days concluded and record-long federal leadership shutdown and less than two months since the assassination on a college campus of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk Outside politics of Colorado voters explained they think the economic system will only get worse while another think it ll only stay about the same leaving a sliver of voters just with a rosy outlook I think it s a general sense that there s so numerous different issues that are weighing on them they re concerned about the financial system they re even concerned about jobs this day it s not just cost of living anymore That just combines to be a real downer explained pollster Lori Weigel principal of New Bridge Strategy the Republican half of the bipartisan squad behind the poll Add in fears of political violence and an overall dilemma of governance Weigel noted and how can you be sort of positive when you feel like that s happening Colorado voters are also reeling from the down market more than the rest of the country the pollsters exposed of respondents announced they had cut spending on nonessential items compared to last year versus of the nation writ large and of Coloradans commented their habits had remained about the same compared to of the nation The poll was in the field Nov - The pollsters conducted online interviews with 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 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 favorable to unfavorable according to the poll It s a noticeable slip from March when a bare majority of voters held a favorable opinion of the term-limited governor and had an unfavorable view More voters also hold a very unfavorable view of him now at than earlier this year when it was U S Sen John Hickenlooper a Democrat who is up for reelection next year saw a similar slip going from favorable to between March and this month His unfavorable rating was in March and this month Related Articles Colorado attorney general Mesa County prosecutor urge Gov Polis not to transfer Tina Peters Durango father children arrested by ICE agree to leave the country advocates say Denver prosecutors add forgery charges to former lawmaker s legal woes in fake letters situation Colorado reaches settlement with landlord giant Greystar in price-fixing lawsuit Colorado ethics commission votes to investigate complaints against state lawmakers U S Sen Michael Bennet a Democrat who is now running for governor saw a similar slip in overall favorability Voters opinions moved from favorable in March to now and unfavorable opinions ticked up from to 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 percentage points Weiser suffered from a similar lack of recognition with not registering an opinion of him and with a favorable view to with a negative one Nearly of Democratic voters meanwhile had a favorable opinion of Bennet to with an unfavorable view The pollsters did not ask about the two in a head-to-head matchup for next June s primary Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter The Spot