If Gov. John Hickenlooper’s campaign was being run by the spazzes over at Sen. Mark Udall’s campaign, the #copolitics twitter feed today would be spammed full of stories about mountain climbing, abortions, and NSA; basically, anything to distract how bad Hickenlooper’s most recent poll numbers are. In the latest Rasmussen poll released today, former Rep. Bob Beauprez is up by one (45-44) over Hick. Things only get worse for Hickenlooper when we dig into the crosstabs.
Not only is Hickenlooper trailing Beauprez, but as the incumbent, the voters who turn out to vote on Election Day historically break hard against incumbents. If Hick is still trailing going into Election Day, he’s as good as done. Even what many people view as Hick’s greatest strength, his likability, is finally letting him down, as his favorable/unfavorable numbers are close to going negative (48/47). Such a small margin isn’t large enough to overcome his biggest weakness, his inability to lead, and most Coloradans have had enough of his ineffectual leadership as more people disapprove of the job Hick is doing than approve (47/45).
Hick’s desire for everyone to love him on every single issue has finally caught up to him, as his handling of the fracking initiatives this year has pissed everyone off. Some Democrats aren’t willing to vote for Hick after he sold them out; the number of Democrats voting for Hick has dropped from 84% to 76%.
To compound Hick’s misery, other metrics in Rasmussen’s poll point to it polling a more favorable electorate than Hick will see in November. In this poll, President Obama’s favorable/unfavorable numbers are only an astounding -4 (47-51), while most every other poll conducted going back to the beginning of the year has Obama in the negative double-digits, with O’s approval numbers hovering around only 40%.
Yet, this poll does not only reflect a gubernatorial race that Hick is just losing, but a race that Beauprez is just as much winning. Beauprez’s favorable/unfavorable numbers are an astounding +23 (47-24). Hickenlooper’s so-called unwillingness to not go negative will shortly here be completely shattered. But, even that may be too late as Beauprez leads Hickenlooper among the most important issues to Coloradans this November. Coloradans trust Beauprez more on government spending and taxes as well, which comes as no surprise as Hickenhooper has drastically grown the budget of the executive branch under his watch, as well as backing a billion dollar tax increase that Colorado voters overwhelming rejected last year. Coloradans also overwhelming side with Beauprez over Hick on the death penalty and Obamacare.
But, no worries Hick, this poll actually has a silver lining for you and Udall: after November, if you promise to carry the beer in your backpack, he’ll take you mountain climbing with him.