Most early polls in any race have not been kind to Democrats, which is not unexpected given the anti-incumbent sentiment nationwide. But as the Grand Junction Sentinel reports:
A new poll shows Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper leading the likely Republican nominee to be the next governor of Colorado.
A Rasmussen poll released Monday showed that the Denver Democrat leads former U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis 49 percent to 45 percent.
A month ago, Rasmussen had McInnis in a three-point lead over Hickenlooper the day he entered the race for governor after Gov. Bill Ritter announced he was dropping out.
At that same time, McInnis held a six-point lead over U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who was briefly thought to be the lead contender immediately after Ritter ended his re-election campaign.
The poll said Hickenlooper remained the better-known candidate.
It showed that 35 percent of the 500 likely voters surveyed viewed the mayor very favorably, while 12 percent regarded him very unfavorably.
At the same time, McInnis was viewed favorably by 13 percent of respondents and unfavorably by 14 percent. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percent…
We repeat our boilerplate disclaimer about putting too much stock into early polls. Nearly every poll done this far out from Election Day is fairly useless because the average voter doesn’t really know any of the candidates.
That said, and especially given what many consider to be Rasmussen’s built-in GOP biases, you can’t call this entirely insignificant. This is the first real poll on the Governor’s race since Rasmussen’s snap poll from a month ago, on the day Bill Ritter announced he would not run again, and can’t be relied upon as a benchmark; Hickenlooper wasn’t even a candidate yet.
And as we’ve said before — which most pollsters acknowledge — the most significant early numbers at this point in a campaign are the “very” favorable and unfavorable ratings. In order to rate someone as “very” favorable or unfavorable, you generally have to have somewhat of an informed opinion. Hickenlooper’s 35% “very favorable” rating is not good news for Republicans.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
BY: JohnInDenver
IN: Labor Day Weekend Open Thread
BY: 2Jung2Die
IN: Labor Day Weekend Open Thread
BY: MichaelBowman
IN: Labor Day Weekend Open Thread
BY: Duke Cox
IN: Who’s Paying For These Racist Anti-Harris Sign Stunts?
BY: davebarnes
IN: Labor Day Weekend Open Thread
BY: notaskinnycook
IN: Labor Day Weekend Open Thread
BY: 2Jung2Die
IN: Labor Day Weekend Open Thread
BY: notaskinnycook
IN: Labor Day Weekend Open Thread
BY: Colorado Pols
IN: Who’s Paying For These Racist Anti-Harris Sign Stunts?
BY: JohnInDenver
IN: Labor Day Weekend Open Thread
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!
NJ! VA!
here:
Hickenlooper Net Intense Feeling +23%
McInnis Net Intense Feeling -1%
Hickenlooper Middling Opinion 45%
McInnis Middling Opinion 54%
Hickenlooper No Opinion 8%
McInnis No Opinion 19%
Not sure what to make of the fact that only 6% of undecided, despite the fact that 8% have no opinion of Hickenlooper and 14% have no opinion of McInnis.
Data that says only 6 percent undecided while 22 percent have no opinion tells me that you’re looking at straight-ticket voters. That would be my working hypothesis, at any rate, until I had better data. I think we’re looking at people who choose strictly by the letter after a candidate’s name.
I believe that Rasmussen states the party ID of each candidate as part of the question. There is no prior question without the party ID to establish what part of the result is due to name recognition.
The 8% with no opinion on Hickenlooper could have a strong opinion on McInnis, leaving them with a clear preference; and the same with the 14% with no opinion on McInnis. So it’ probably much less than 22% with no opinion about either candidate. Party ID no doubt plays a big role in all this too — “If he’s a Democrat, then I’ve got an opinion about what’s his name!”
But I’m still sticking with party ID and straight ticket voters as my working hypothesis for much of the variance.
Wasn’t Romanoff polled vs McInnis?
He’s running for Senate not Gov.
for a couple weeks last month.
from the time Secretary Salazar said not him (Th or Fri), through the weekend AR was calling around testing the idea of switching.
Then that Tue he held a press conference to announce he was running for the Senate with no money.
so no longer relevant.
was polled. That’s all BICora was saying.
that the whole Governor thing shook out. This is going to be a long slog of an election season. Sorry.
If the AR campaign ever starts to clarify and make more sense, then it will be fair to hold you to a higher standard. 🙂
Strongest candidate.
national Democratic party did a quick poll to test names against McInnis, right after Ritter stepped aside.
I did not see the poll but have been told by those that did, that it showed Hick marginally stronger against McInnis than Salazar.
Scott McInnis is out of his political league.
massage, pedi, mani, and new hair color, can’t solve – time for Scooter to get busy.
It only gets worse from here.
If it comes down to who is more likable, it’s Hick. Looks like the big Dick isn’t making much of a dent so far with the Call-him-Hickenritter/Chickenritter campaign.