Poll: Coloradans across party lines support state's election system
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Amid major political division, Colorado voters on both sides of the aisle agree on one thing: the state's vote-by-mail election system.
The big picture: A new bipartisan Colorado Polling Institute poll released Thursday shows overwhelming confidence and approval for the way votes are tallied in the state.
By the numbers: A sweeping 87% of Colorado voters are pleased with the election system, according to the poll, which surveyed 822 likely voters from Oct. 25 to Nov. 4.
- Democrats showed the highest satisfaction (99%), followed by independents (87%) and Republicans (72%).
- 99% of Harris voters said they support the system, compared with 70% of Trump voters.
What they're saying: "That is astounding. That is a high level of agreement that extends across partisanship," Kevin Ingham of Aspect Strategic, who helped conduct the survey, said during a press call Thursday.
Between the lines: Coloradans' overwhelming approval of their election process could help explain why voters rejected Proposition 131, which proposed upending the system by adopting ranked choice voting and abandoning party primaries.
- The measure failed, garnering 45% support, according to preliminary results from the Colorado Secretary of State's Office.
- 53% of Harris voters favored ranked choice voting, while only 27% of Trump voters did per CPI's poll.
Zoom in: Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, who opposed Prop. 131, told Axios Denver that he wasn't surprised by the measure's defeat because voters "believe we have the best [voting] system in America."
- Bennet, who has pushed for ranked choice voting at the federal level since 2020, suggested that it might work in Colorado eventually — just not in the format proposed this year.
- "Don't just put it all together and jam it down our throats," he said. "That was my objection."
Caveat: The margin of error on the poll, conducted by Democratic and Republican consulting firms, is plus-or-minus 3.4 percentage points.
What's next: The Colorado Polling Institute plans to release another round of survey results focused on unaffiliated voters the week of Nov. 18.