Bennet, Clinton hold wide leads in new Colorado poll

Democratic candidates U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hold identical 13-point leads over their Republican opponents in Colorado, according to a Monmouth University poll released Wednesday.
It’s the second poll in as many days to show top-ticket Republicans trailing in the swing state, although the margins were closer in the earlier survey.
Among likely Colorado voters, Clinton has the support of 48 percent and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump is backed by 35 percent. Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson has 5 percent support, Green Party candidate Jill Stein has 3 percent, 3 percent say they’re picking another candidate and 7 percent are undecided.
Bennet also has 48 percent of the vote and Republican nominee Darryl Glenn has 35 percent. Libertarian Lily Tang Williams has 3 percent, Green Party nominee Arn Menconi has 2 percent and 12 percent say they’re undecided.
According to a Harper Polling survey of likely Colorado voters released on Tuesday, Clinton is 7 points ahead of Trump and Bennet leads Glenn by 6 points.
“Clinton does better among practically every demographic in Colorado than she does nationally. It is way too early to call, but if this dynamic holds, she could end up with the largest electoral margin for a Democrat here since 1964,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, referring to President Lyndon Johnson’s landslide over Republican challenger Barry Goldwater. (Colorado has voted for a Democratic presidential candidate just three times since then, when Bill Clinton won the state in 1992, and Barack Obama’s two wins in 2008 and 2012.)
Clinton has a more solid share of her own party’s voters than Trump, with 93 percent of Democrats supporting her, as opposed to just 78 percent of Republicans behind Trump. She also leads, 56-30 percent, among women, while the two candidates are tied among men. Voters under age 50 support Clinton 51-26, while those 50 and older split more closely, though Clinton still wins that group 45-42. Hispanic, black and Asian voters support Clinton by an overwhelming 66-15, and she holds a lead among white voters 44-38.
Both major party presidential candidates are viewed negatively by Colorado voters, although Trump comes out way ahead in that comparison. Clinton is viewed favorably by 37 percent and unfavorably by 50 percent of voters, but only 24 percent have a favorable opinion of Trump and 64 percent hold unfavorable views.
Forty percent of voters say they think Clinton broke the law with the way she handled her private email server, and an additional 33 percent say she used poor judgment.
Ninety-two percent of Democrats say they support Bennet, while 81 percent of Republicans back Glenn, who emerged as the nominee just two weeks ago from a crowded GOP primary. Bennet is ahead 45-38 among white voters but has a much larger lead among Hispanic, black and Asian voters, 61-19 percent.
Glenn has much lower name recognition, with 70 percent of likely voters holding no opinion of the El Paso County commissioner. About half that many voters, 36 percent, don’t have an opinion about Bennet, but 51 percent approve of the job he’s done in the Senate.
Only a handful of voters have an opinion about Glenn’s outspoken support for Trump, with just 5 percent saying he’s too close to the presidential candidate and 3 percent saying he isn’t close enough.
The telephone poll was conducted July 9-12 and surveyed 404 Colorado residents. It carries a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.9 percent. The outfit earned an A-plus grade for its accuracy and methodology from the polling site FiveThirtyEight.
– ernest@coloradostatesman.com
