Outside of Colorado, Democrats are still panicked about President Donald Trump’s victory, trying to figure out how Americans can be so stupid as to reject their elitist-driven, woke socialism.

But inside Colorado, Democrats see no need to worry. Unchecked power tends to do that.

A new report from a centrist Democratic group called Welcome confirms what most Coloradans already know but won’t say out loud for fear of getting canceled: the Democratic Party has drifted into a progressive fog, unmoored from the realities of regular people.

The Welcome report, blandly titled “Deciding to Win”, took six months, hundreds of thousands of voter interviews, and several gallons of kombucha to reach one earth-shattering conclusion — voters think Democrats are “out of touch.”

Seventy percent of voters said so, to be exact. That’s not a typo. It’s practically consensus in our fractured age. If the question had been, “Do Colorado roads suck?” the number wouldn’t be much higher.

Here’s what voters told them: the Democrat Party is too consumed by climate change, identity politics and “saving democracy,” and not nearly enough about the stuff that decides whether you can pay your mortgage or afford meatloaf (of course, meatloaf is murder. How many meat-out days do you need to get that?).

Specifically, their deep dive found voters want the Democratic Party to prioritize (in this order): protecting Social Security and Medicare, lowering everyday costs, making health care more affordable, creating jobs and economic growth, cutting taxes on the middle class, lowering the rate of crime, and securing the border.

Guess what voters want the Democratic Party to stop promoting? Protecting the rights of undocumented workers, raising taxes to increase spending on social programs, protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans, fighting climate change, promoting unions and union jobs, promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, and reducing police brutality.

Holy crap — voters want Democrats to turn into Republicans, sans the social stuff like abortion.

The values of elite urban progressives who run the party don’t jibe with the working voters they claim to represent.

Now, translate that to Colorado. Our legislature treats every session like a grad-school seminar in progressive performance art. They churn out bills on pronoun policies and green-energy mandates faster than their fans can spray-paint “No Kings” on a highway viaduct. Meanwhile, working Coloradans are stuck choosing between paying their Xcel bill and making rent.

The report analyzed how far left Democrats in congress have moved in the last decade alone: Congressional Ds support for a ban on so-called “assault weapons” grew from 41% to 88%; support for giving full voting rights to federal prisoners grew from 4% to 44%; banning all state abortion limits from 66% to 98%; and support “studying” reparations for descendants of slaves from 1% to 57%.

And sadly, the Democrats in U. S. Congress all seem like William F Buckley Jr. next to the Democrats in Colorado’s legislature.

The report lists electric-vehicle subsidies as one of the least popular Democratic policies tested nationwide. It turns out most folks don’t love the idea of their tax dollars funding someone else’s luxury car purchase. Who knew?

But in Colorado, the EV gravy train just keeps rolling, you know, to save democracy.

The Welcome poll also found federally Democrats suffer “particularly large trust deficits” on crime and border security. You don’t say. Here in Colorado, they’ve decriminalized nearly everything short of armed bank robbery

One of my favorite tidbits from the report: mentions of “environmental justice” in Democratic platforms are up 333%, while mentions of “fathers” are down 100%. That’s not satire, just a stat.

The Welcome data also found highly educated and affluent Democrats — sound familiar, Boulder/Denver? — care about climate change 23% more than average voters and care about border security 27% less.

The Welcome report’s prescription is simple: stop trying to impress the faculty lounge, start listening to the break room. That goes double for Colorado Democrats.

If they spent half as much time worrying about grocery prices as they do about greenhouse gases, they might notice working families are suffocating — not from CO2, but from the cost of living under their web of regulations and mandates.

The Welcome report might be aimed at national Democrats, but our overlords at Colfax and Broadway should take note.

Colorado Democrats might not always have Republican Party dysfunction to guarantee their perpetual victories.

Jon Caldara is president of the Independence Institute in Denver and hosts “The Devil’s Advocate with Jon Caldara” on Colorado Public Television Channel 12. His column appears Sundays in Colorado Politics.