This story was first publishes at Colorado Newsline.
DENVER | A new poll of Colorado voters found that nearly three-fourths of Coloradans think the political situation in the U.S. is in crisis, and almost two-in-three voters in the state think political violence will worsen over the next few years.
The Colorado Polling Institute asked 622 voters likely to participate in the 2026 election where they stand on politics in the state and nationally, with an oversample of Hispanic voters. They were asked about specific elected officials from Colorado, affordability and spending, immigration, health care, President Donald Trump and the Republican and Democratic parties.
Aspect Strategic, a Democratic political firm, worked with New Bridge Strategy, a Republican political firm, to conduct the poll between Nov. 1 and Nov. 5, when the federal government was still in the midst of its record-breaking shutdown. The margin of error is 3.95% for the overall sample and 6.38% for the Hispanic sample.
Democrats and unaffiliated voters in Colorado were significantly more likely to have said the state of politics in the U.S. is in crisis, with 84% of Democrats saying so and 78% of independent voters saying so, while 49% of Republicans said so.
Just under half of the respondents, 47%, think Colorado is headed in the right direction, and those who think the state is going in the wrong direction, 44% of respondents, think so more intensely, Lori Weigel with New Bridge Strategy said. While only 7% of those who think the state is going in the right direction say it definitely is, 28% of those who say it is going in the wrong direction say it definitely is.
Democrats are more likely to think the state is going in the right direction while Republicans are more likely to think it is going in the wrong direction. Democrats control all statewide elected offices in Colorado and have majorities in both chambers of the Colorado Legislature.
Concerns about immigration, cost of living and housing affordability are the top issues voters said they want the state government to address, followed by homelessness, health care and mental health, and schools and education.
The majority of respondents also have concerns about the state budget or believe it is in crisis, with fewer people saying the budget is in good shape than in a March poll CPI conducted. Most respondents think the economy in Colorado will get worse over the next year.
Consumer spending
More Coloradans cut spending on non-essential items over the last year compared to voters nationally, which CPI determined by asking a question used in a national poll Quinnipiac University conducted in September. In Colorado, 61% of respondents said they have cut spending compared to 42% nationally.
“It’s a notable distinction from where the American electorate is right now in terms of that perception,” Weigel said. “And it could be that some of the higher cost of living, cost of housing, all those related things might be bearing a little more of a burden here in Colorado.”
Favorability of state officials including Gov. Jared Polis and U.S. Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet has decreased slightly since CPI’s poll in March. While 51% of voters found Polis favorable in March, 45% did in the November survey. For Hickenlooper, a Democrat, 49% found him favorable in March, while 43% found him favorable in November. In March, 45% of voters found Bennet, also a Democrat, favorable, while 41% found him favorable in November.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who is running against Bennet in the Democratic primary for governor in 2026, has less name recognition among Democrats but slightly higher favorability. Among Democrats, Bennet has a 3-to-1 favorability ratio while Weiser has a 4-to-1 favorability ratio.
National politics
Colorado voters’ opinions on Trump have not changed much since a March poll: 58% of voters said they had an unfavorable opinion of him then while with 59% say so now. Of the Hispanic oversample, 66% view Trump negatively, Kevin Ingham of Aspect Strategic said.
Almost three quarters of Coloradans think Congress should extend Affordable Care Act tax credits for people who purchase health insurance through the individual marketplace, on par with what voters nationally said in a September KFF poll. Extending the tax credits was a primary point of debate around the shutdown, as most Democrats refused to vote for a funding package that did not extend the credits. The average increase in Colorado for ACA consumers is estimated to be 170% when the credits expire this year. Democrats are more likely to support extending the tax credits, while more Republicans support letting the credits expire.
A majority of Colorado voters, 54%, said the Trump administration is going too far on deporting immigrants. Of the Hispanic voters polled, 59% said Trump has gone too far. A quarter of Coloradans think the administration’s immigration enforcement is about right, and 19% say it hasn’t gone far enough.
Half of all voters think local law enforcement should be allowed to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, while 37% of Hispanic voters think so. A Colorado law prohibits local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration operations.
Hispanic voters were nearly twice as likely to know someone who has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement — 8% of all voters know someone, while 14% of Hispanic voters do. The poll also asked if respondents have seen ICE in their community or have heard of ICE presence even if they haven’t seen them personally. Thirteen percent of Colorado voters have seen ICE, while 15% of Hispanic voters have. More than half of respondents, 55%, said they have heard about ICE in their community but haven’t seen its presence, while 47% of Hispanic voters have.
“Voters do have some concerns about how ICE is behaving. When we ask, 64% of all Coloradans and 73% of Hispanic voters were concerned that ICE was detaining people who should not be detained,” Ingham said. “And those concerns were quite intense, because half of all Coloradans and 56% of Hispanic voters said that they were very concerned about this.”
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