Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet leads his Republican challenger, Darryl Glenn, by 6 points in the first publicly available polling released since the El Paso County commissioner won the nomination in a crowded primary at the end of June.

In the race for Colorado’s nine electoral votes, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton holds a 7-point lead over Donald Trump, the likely GOP nominee, according to a survey of likely Colorado voters conducted at the end of last week by Harper Polling, a Republican-leaning firm.

A slim plurality of voters – 42-40 percent – say they would be less likely to support the Democratic ticket if Gov. John Hickenlooper were the vice presidential nominee.

Bennet is viewed more favorably than not by likely voters, the poll shows, while Glenn is facing low name identification.

Forty percent of likely voters say they hold a favorable opinion of Bennet, compared with 27 percent who say they dislike the incumbent, making for 67 percent who hold an opinion about him. Nearly the same share of voters – 63 percent – don’t hold an opinion about Glenn yet, although those who say they’re familiar with him view the Republican favorably by 24-14 percent.

Bennet leads Glenn 48-37 percent among women, while the two are essentially tied among men, with Bennet barely trailing, 43-44 percent.

Voters are evenly split, at 38 percent on each side of the question, over whether Bennet deserves re-election. Women want the Democrat back for another term by 43-33 percent, an opinion precisely mirrored by men, who say it’s time to try another senator by 43-33 percent.

Bennet performs better against Glenn than a generic Democrat does against a generic Republican, the survey says. Using just party labels for the Senate vote, a Democratic candidate holds a 2-percent lead over a Republican candidate, at 45-43 percent.

Neither presidential candidate is very popular among Colorado voters.

A majority of likely Colorado voters hold negative opinions of the presidential candidates – Clinton is disliked by 57 percent, Trump by 54 percent – and are more likely to say they are casting votes against the alternative than that they support either candidate. Fifty-two percent of those opting for Clinton say “opposition to Trump” is the most important factor in their vote, compared with 42 percent who say it’s “support for Clinton.” Likewise, 57 percent of Trump voters told pollsters that “opposition to Clinton” is the reason they support Trump, and 43 percent said it was “support for Trump.”

Clinton leads Trump 45-38 percent among all likely Colorado voters, with 14 percent saying they plan to vote for “someone else,” and 4 percent saying they’re undecided.

The polling firm surveyed 500 likely voters, with 25 percent reached by cell phone and 75 percent on landlines. The margin of error is plus-or-minus 4.38 percent. It was conducted July 7-9. The sample included 35 percent Democrats, 33 percent Republicans and 32 percent who are unaffiliated or belong to another party.

The only other recent polling in the Senate race, conducted in the third week of June by CBS/YouGov, reported that 60 percent of voters approved of the job Bennet has done, with 40 percent disapproving. The same poll said Clinton held just a 1-point lead, 40-39 percent, over Trump among Colorado voters, with 4 percent of voters preferring Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson and 1 percent saying they’d vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

– ernest@coloradostatesman.com