Posted on 09/22/2004 3:45:35 PM PDT by ambrose
Poll: Bush holds commanding lead among likely Colorado voters
The Associated Press
PUEBLO - President Bush holds a 12-point lead over Democrat John Kerry in Colorado, according to a statewide poll of likely voters published Wednesday that cites trust in the president's handling of the war in Iraq as one of the top reasons.
In all, 51 percent of the respondents said they would vote for Bush while 39 percent said they would vote for Kerry, according to The Pueblo Chieftain poll conducted by Ciruli Associates of Denver. Seven percent were undecided and 2 percent chose "other."
The poll, a telephone survey of 600 registered voters on Sept. 14-18 who said they are likely to go to the polls Nov. 2, has a margin for error of 4 percentage points.
The same poll also found Democratic Attorney General Ken Salazar and Republican Pete Coors are in a virtual dead heat in the race for Colorado's open Senate seat: Salazar was the choice of 46 percent to 45 percent for Coors.
There are more registered Republicans than Democrats in Colorado and the survey reflected that: 42 percent of those surveyed described themselves as either strong or mild Republicans and 33 percent describing themselves as strong or mild Democrats.
According to the poll, 85 percent of Republicans said they were supporting Bush, along with 13 percent of the Democrats and 44 percent of unaffiliated voters. Kerry had the support of 77 percent of the Democrats contacted, 6 percent of the Republicans and 34 percent unaffiliated.
"That's a surprising statistic because unaffiliated voters in Colorado tend to vote more Democratic," Ciruli said. "The fact that Bush is attracting more of them right now is significant."
The pollster said Bush's support is based in large measure on confidence in his handling of the war and his leadership in general: 55 percent said Bush is a "strong leader," compared with 27 percent for Kerry.
On the question of waging war against terrorism, 55 percent endorsed Bush while 29 percent chose Kerry. On the Iraq war, 53 percent endorsed Bush and 33 percent supported Kerry.
Asked about the economy and jobs, 46 percent of respondents said Bush is the better choice while 36 percent picked Kerry. On health care, education and the federal deficit, voters gave Bush and Kerry almost identical marks.
"Both campaigns have tried to emphasize their domestic agendas in the past few weeks, but it seems that the president's support is clearly based on his conduct of the war on terrorism and the public's perception of him as a leader," Ciruli said.
The poll is dramatically different from one conducted Sept. 12-13 for the Rocky Mountain News and KCNC-TV in Denver that said Bush and Kerry were in a virtual tie.
In that poll, Bush had 45 percent and Kerry had 44 percent, according to the survey of 500 registered Colorado voters who said they were likely to vote. It was conducted Sept. 12-13 by Public Opinion Strategies and had a margin of error of4.3 percentage points.
Ralph Nader polled 3 percent, and 6 percent were undecided, according to that poll.
I knew Colorado was being misrepresented in the polls.
Looks like Bush coattails possible for Coors. Cheers!
Colorado is not a battleground state, regardless of what many lefties want us to believe.
Everything showed a Strickland victory in 2002 and Allard won easily. I believe Pete Coors will win this time and Bush will carry Colorado by near if not double digits.
I'm really dizzy with all these numbers. Are we believing polls or are we not? If so, which ones, if not, which ones?
Presidential race - good news.
Senate race - bad news.
This poll explains why Kerry decided about a week ago to pull resources out of the state, even as other polls had the race closer than this. He is also pulling resources out of Arkansas (no surprise), Louisiana (no suprise) and Missouri (surprising). The map for Kerry continues to get smaller and smaller.
And why won't someone poll Colorado about the EV-split initiative?
That's what really matters here...
Who cares, if things go as planned Bush gets 1EV from CO. Thus winning the election with 324EV instead of 325 =)
Some recent threads on Colorado polling numbers have shown a small lead for the President. Never thought those polls offered honest data. 51% for Bush sounds moree like it.
Btw, Pete Coors is gonna beat Salazar too.
When John Elway introduced Bush, arms around him..it was OVER!
Good question! But, I'm not counting on this kind of lead. Let's just keep working.
They said Coors would flag in the primary and he 'dint. He'll pick it up.
I have no reason to doubt this poll. THe 5 I question is ARG,Pew,Harris,Zogby and Rasmussen
Ping!
poll ping
Crush Kerry!!
I also heard today that Hotline was saying the electoral vote amendment was favored 51-36 or something like that... Ugh...
Well, if we can get Wisconsin (10) then it more than makes up for losing 4 electorals if that thing passes.
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