Not to be overshadowed by a Quinnipiac poll put out today that shows Rep. Cory Gardner up by two over Sen. Mark Udall (44%-42%), Gravis Marketing released its own poll today showing Gardner up by four over Udall (47%-43%). As The Washington Free Beacon writes:
Rep. Cory Gardner (R., Colo.) is up by four points against Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Udall due to his strong showing with independent voters, according to a new poll.
Gravis Marketing released results of a survey of 1,106 registered voters in Colorado on Tuesday.
… Gravis attributed Gardner’s lead to his results among independents.
“The difference between why Hickenlooper is ahead and why Udall is underperforming him is because of a 12-point spread in Independent voters,” the marketing company said. “More independents are voting for Gardner (R.) and Hickenlooper (D.) at the moment instead of for Udall (D.) and Hickenlooper (D.).”
It’s really no surprise that independents are running away from Udall as fast as possible. His extremely liberal record over the past six years has put him out of touch with the average Coloradan. At a time when President Obama’s numbers are plummeting here in Colorado, Udall can’t hide from the fact he has voted with Obama 99% of the time.
Further encouraging news for Colorado Republicans is that initial polling of the down ticket races has them leading in all of them. As Gravis wrote about its poll:
The Attorney General, Secretary of State, and Treasurer races were also polled in this survey. In the Attorney General race Cynthia Coffman (R) leads Don Quick (D) 42%-38% with the Libertarian candidate David Williams taking 9%. As for the Secretary of State race Wayne Williams (R) leads Joe Neguse (D) 42%-39% with the Libertarian candidate David Schambach taking 7%. Finally, in the Treasurer race incumbent Treasurer Walker Stapleton (R) leads former Congresswoman Betsy Markey (D) 44%-41% with the Libertarian candidate David Jurist taking 6% of the vote. [the Peak‘s emphasis]
Rep. Jared Polis’ quixotic quest against all things fracking not only hurt the chances of top ticket races like Udall and Hickenlooper, but could be a determining factor on who wins down ticket races. Pro-fracking, and pro-business groups will be turning out reliable Republican votes to defeat the initiatives, who will then turn and mark the candidate’s name that has an “R” next to it, on the low name ID races.
While we here at the Peak would be ecstatic to see George Leing pull off a major upset in the safe Democrat district, if Polis is going to continue to sabotage his own party, it might not be the worst thing for him to stick around.