New poll decodes Colorado's independent voters

Colorado's unaffiliated voters — now the majority — believe both major parties are too extreme and untrustworthy, according to a new poll released Thursday.

Why it matters: This bloc of independent voters largely determines who wins elections in Colorado, even though their political preferences are often opaque.

State of play: To decode unaffiliated voters, the first-of-its-kind poll examined what motivates them and how they look at politics.

Zoom in: Here are six takeaways from the data:

• 40% unaffiliated voters say politics is part of their identity, compared with 76% of Democrats and 64% of Republicans.
• About 50% of unaffiliated voters previously registered with a major party, but most left that party because of policy disagreements.
• In a hypothetical 2026 congressional election, 44% of unaffiliated voters would pick a Democratic candidate compared with 38% who would favor a Republican.
• The No. 1 issue for unaffiliated voters is housing affordability and the cost of living, mirroring the electorate as a whole. The majority says Colorado is headed in the wrong direction.
• Independents trust Democrats more on education, democracy, health care and environmental issues, and they trust Republicans more on crime and immigration.

• 66% of voters ages 18-34 are unaffiliated, the largest portion of any age group.

The fine print: Democratic pollster Keating Research conducted the survey Nov. 10-17 on behalf of Let Colorado Vote and its founder, Kent Thiry. The organization seeks to empower unaffiliated voters.

• Only active voters — those who have participated in prior elections and receive mail ballots — were surveyed.
• The margin of error is +/- 2.8 percentage points but is larger for specific voter groups.