Cost of living is the primary policy concern of Latino voters in Colorado heading into upcoming elections, according to a new poll. 

The Colorado Latino Policy Agenda found that the rising cost of living is the No. 1 issue Latino voters want both the state and federal government to address. The poll, released Wednesday, included responses from 1,600 Latino registered voters across the state. 

This is the third annual poll focused on Colorado’s Latino voters. Each year, cost of living has climbed up the ranks of their policy priorities. Last year, respondents said cost of living was their top priority for the federal government and second priority for the state government. In 2021, it was eighth for the federal government and fifth for the state government. 

“That’s driven by the underlying context of a lot of financial hardships still facing large segments of the Latino population,” said Dr. Gabriel Sanchez with BSP Research, the firm that conducted the poll. “You see the economic strain that too many of our families are facing across the state.” 

Most of the top policy priorities identified in the poll centered around economic issues. Improving wages, lowering health care costs and creating affordable housing were ranked second, fourth and sixth, respectively, on both the state and federal priority lists. Homelessness ranked third on the state list.

Only 23% of respondents said they can comfortably afford where they live, while 34% said they cannot afford or can barely afford where they live. One-third of respondents said their financial situation has gotten worse in the last year. 

Improving housing affordability has been a core goal of the state legislature and the governor in recent years. Over $715 million was spent on affordable housing, homelessness and eviction defense policies during the 2021 and 2022 legislative sessions. Despite this, 78% of respondents said they haven’t seen any real change in access to affordable housing where they live.

“Within the Latino community, we are still very much in crisis with housing. We’re still not getting to the working families who are desperately in need,” said Alex Sánchez, CEO of Voces Unidas, which leads the Latino Policy Agenda along with the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights. 

The lack of change seen on the ground appears to hurt Latino voters’ view of Colorado’s government.

Last year, respondents viewed state and local institutions as more effective than ineffective. But this year, more voters said the state legislature and their local city councils are ineffective (34% and 36%) than effective (32% each). Only Gov. Jared Polis retained a plurality of respondents saying he is effective, though it fell from 51% in 2022 to 44% in 2023. 

Still, Latino voters reported all state and local institutions as more effective than all federal institutions. More than half of respondents, 53%, said Colorado is going in the right direction, while 57% said the United States as a whole is going in the wrong direction. 

One of the core issues separating Colorado from the U.S. is abortion. Latino voters ranked protecting abortion rights as fifth most important of federal priorities, and seventh of state priorities. 

“It was not long ago that you would not see abortion and reproductive health anywhere near the top 10 issues,” Dr. Sanchez said. “As of 2022 and beyond, it’s moved into that top priority list for Latinos in Colorado.” 

Abortion is a mobilizing issue for Colorado’s Latino voters, with 52% saying recent out-of-state abortion bans make them more likely to vote in 2023 and 2024. Nearly two-thirds of respondents, 62%, said they would support a future ballot measure to allow state-funded insurance programs to cover abortion costs. 

For measures on the ballot this fall, a majority of respondents support Proposition HH to reduce property taxes by reducing refunds from the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (78%) and Proposition II to fund preschool programs using taxes from nicotine products (75%). 

Another top issue among Latino voters is addressing gun violence and mass shootings, which ranked third on the federal priority list and fifth on the state list.

A whopping 81% of respondents said they are concerned about a mass shooting targeting the Latino community. Another 78% said they’re worried about politicians using language that encourages discrimination and violence against immigrants. Around two-thirds of respondents are concerned about candidates and voters refusing to believe election results and another Jan. 6-type riot. 

“Latinos are, unfortunately, more likely to be victims of gun violence and have experience with mass shootings than any other population in the state,” Dr. Sanchez said. “We have to ensure the safety of our population as they look towards the ballot box to just be able to cast their ballot.” 

Of the 1,600 survey respondents, 50% self-identified as Democrats, 19% as Republicans and 30% as independents or another party. While a plurality said their political ideology has not changed in the last three years, 34% said they’ve become more liberal compared to 24% who are more conservative.

Polling was conducted online and over the phone in English and Spanish between July 1 and July 27. The poll intentionally oversampled in rural areas.