February 19, 2020 11:16 AM UTC

New Polling Loaded With More Bad News For Colorado GOP

• 4 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Global Strategy Group, a nationwide public relations and comms firm, released new polling data via local liberal activist group ProgressNow Colorado reinforcing what a host of recent polls in Colorado have already corroborated: enduring Democratic majority “generic ballot” support from Colorado voters, the continuing deep unpopularity of President Donald Trump, and vulnerable incumbent GOP Sen. Cory Gardner even less loved than our unpopular president:

Democrats may only have a 2-point lead on party registration, but they lead Republicans on party self identification and the generic vote for state legislature by much larger margins. Self-identified Democratic voters are also more motivated to vote in November than Republicans, with nearly nine in 10 being extremely motivated.

Meanwhile, voters view Democratic Governor Polis favorably and rate his job in office even higher, at a firm +10. Attitudes towards Democrats in the Colorado state legislature are mixed, but much warmer than those towards their Republican counterparts. Republican President Trump and Senator Gardner are both far underwater in comparison…

Trump’s job approval is quite poor (-12 NET approve) and is particularly bad with unaffiliated voters (-15). Moreover, while Trump has very conservative Republicans (who make up 11% of the electorate) consolidated, a good quarter of the larger block of less-conservative Republicans (17% of the electorate) disapprove of his performance. These low marks translate into a 12-point disadvantage against a generic Democrat in the race for President, when just 4 years ago he only lost Colorado by a 5-point margin.

Cory Gardner may be in an even worse position, and his decision to put his loyalty to Donald Trump ahead of doing what’s right for Colorado is costing him dearly. [Pols emphasis] By aligning himself with Trump, he has unified Democrats against him and alienated middle-of-the-road voters – but his own base remains fractured as well. Gardner not only loses the same less-conservative never-Trump Republicans that the president does, but he also garners approval from just three-quarters from the hard-right GOP base that universally adores Trump.

Read more details here. Although this poll doesn’t contain any head-to-head matchups, Sen. Cory Gardner came in with a 14-point disadvantage against a generic Democrat among voters who indicated a strong likelihood to turn out. Voters also have a heavy preference for Democratic legislative candidates in the upcoming election, another sign that the GOP’s retaliation campaign following the 2018 Democratic wave win has failed to gain traction. If there is any good news for Republicans, it’s that Trump’s approval rate remains pretty much static at 44%–perhaps a floor for Trump personally, though not for Gardner for whom GOP base support is consistently less committed.

For Democrats, it’s more encouraging news. For Republicans, 2018’s downward trajectory has only steepened.