A new poll shows that while Hispanic voters in Colorado lean toward the Democratic Party, they are unhappy with the direction the U.S. is heading, listing primary concerns as inflation, crime and the economy.

The UnidosUS poll of 300 Hispanic Colorado residents who are eligible to vote found that 63% believe the country is on “the wrong track,” several points higher than the 60% national response. More than half of Colorado respondents consistently agreed with this sentiment, even when comparing different genders, age groups, education levels and countries of origin.

UnidosUS, the nation’s largest Latino civil rights organization, said it hopes the survey results will serve as a “wake up call” for both Democrats and Republicans approaching the midterm elections in November.

“In Colorado, Latinos are the second largest voting-age community,” said Clarissa Martinez De Castro, vice presidents of UnidosUS, during a press conference Tuesday. “Neither party should take comfort by the poll results… The reality is that both parties are underwater.”

The top three priorities of Colorado respondents in order were inflation, crime/gun violence and jobs/the economy — results that mirror the national survey results. Specifically, Colorado respondents most frequently expressed concern about rising gas prices, rising costs of living, guns that are too easily accessible, school shootings and not being paid enough at their jobs.

Other popular issues included abortion and immigration reform. Nearly 75% of Colorado respondents said it is wrong to make abortion illegal regardless of their personal beliefs, and 77% supported executive action to protect undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for a long time.

Griswold misleadingly claims Republicans could end voting nationwide soon

Of Colorado respondents, 40% said the Democratic Party would be best at addressing the issues they’re concerned about, compared to 14% who said Republicans would be best. Another 20% said both parties would be good at addressing the issues and 20% said neither party would be good.

This matters for the Colorado election as 21.9% of the state’s population identifies as Hispanic or Latino, according to the 2020 Census. While voter turnout for this demographic is typically lower on average, 61% of the survey respondents said they are “100% certain” they will vote this November and another 21% said they will probably vote.

“The bottom line here for us is that Latinos are the key to unlocking the potential that Colorado has in these upcoming elections,” said Salvador Hernandez, Colorado Director of Mi Familia Vota, which partnered with UnidosUS to organize the poll. “Latinos in Colorado will definitely play a decisive role in this year’s midterm elections.”

This comes as the November election has the potential to change control of Colorado’s state legislature.

Currently, both the state House and Senate are controlled by Democratic lawmakers. The redistricting shakeup, however, means several Democratic seats could be taken by Republican opponents this November. Races for seats in the state Senate, where Republicans need to flip only four seats to take control, will be key in determining the party who runs Colorado’s upper legislative chamber.

When offered words to describe each party in the poll, most Colorado respondents described the Republican Party as “too extreme,” “ineffective” and “turn(ing) Americans against each other,” but also as “fight(ing) hard for their side/voters.” Respondents described the Democratic Party as “reasonable” and “effective,” but were more likely to call the Democratic Party “weak” compared to the Republican Party.

Half or more of respondents identified deal breakers that would prevent them from voting for political candidates as being backed by hate groups/white supremacists, supporting a complete abortion ban and opposing immigration reform/path to legal status. A majority said Democrats better align with their views regarding equality, democracy, immigration, health care/health insurance and public education.

Voters in new Senate District 13 will determine Sen. Kevin Priola's recall fate

Regarding congressional races, 50% of Colorado respondents said they plan to vote for the Democratic candidate in their district’s U.S. House election, 15% said they plan to vote Republican and 28% said they were undecided.

“If you’re a Republican identifier, that 28% undecided needs to be looked at as a real opportunity to grow the GOP brand,” said Gary Segura, president and co-founder of BSP Research which conducted the poll. “If you’re a Democratic identifier, that 28% undecided should be the cause of a few sleepless nights.”

Even with the fate of state elections in the balance, Colorado’s Hispanic voters said they have not been engaged by political candidates. In Colorado, 55% of respondents said no candidate or organization has contacted them in the past 12 months to encourage them to vote. Only 24% said they’d been contacted by Democrats and 12% said they’d been contacted by Republicans.

The survey was conducted in both English and Spanish from July 20 through Aug. 1, with 75% of respondents online and 25% over the phone. Nationally, there were 2,750 respondents, over 92% of whom are currently registered to vote.