The more we dive into the latest Quinnipiac Poll on the Colorado U.S. Senate race, the more we realize just how dire it is for embattled Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet. Yesterday, we reported that just 30 percent of Colorado voters think Bennet deserves re-election. We didn’t think that former Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Udall’s numbers were ever that bad, so we went back through the Quinnipiac University polls from 2014 to confirm. Below is a chart outlining the responses to the question, “Do you feel that Mark Udall deserves to be reelected, or do you feel that he does not deserve to be reelected?”
In a November 20, 2013 poll, which is the same point in Udall’s campaign as we are now in Bennet’s campaign, 41 percent of Coloradans polled believed that Udall deserved re-election. That’s a full 11 points ahead of where Bennet is now. In other words, Bennet may just be starting 11 points in the hole when compared to Udall. And, we all know how the Udall race ended. In fact, in response to this question, Udall never had more than 44 percent who believed he deserved re-election. That alone should have been foreshadowing to election observers.
The left will say that Republicans do not have another Cory Gardner to run for U.S. Senate this year. But, the truth is that Republicans don’t need a Cory Gardner to win when 70% of the electorate is ready for change. All they need is someone who is not Michael Bennet.