Statewide - November 2023
Read the full report, see the full questionnaire, and download the poll’s cross tabs.
We also have infographics for you to share on social media about voters’ Top 2 Issues, the Right Direction / Wrong Track, and what voters think about the future of home ownership in Colorado.
What do Colorado voters think about the direction of the state and who do they trust?
Insights & Analysis
Voters in Colorado are slightly optimistic about the direction of the state (50% right direction; 43% wrong track), but only 9% think the state is definitely headed in the right direction. Republicans are most pessimistic, Democrats are most optimistic, and unaffiliated voters (UAFs) are largely divided in their sentiment – trends that generally continue throughout the political-environment aspects of the survey.
Also notable is the massive gulf in outlook by length of residency in Colorado. Those rooted residents who have lived in Colorado for more than 20 years skew negative in their outlook (44%-50% right-wrong). This is a stark contrast to settled transplants those who have lived here between 5 and 20 years (56%-38%), and newcomers who have moved here within the last five years (77%-15%).
In contrast to the relative optimism about the direction of Colorado, when looking at the state’s net promoter score (NPS), there are noticeably more detractors (40%; NPS 1 – 6) than promoters (29%; NPS 9 – 10), leaving Colorado with an NPS score of -11.
While Coloradans do tilt optimistic in their views on the state's overall outlook, they are less hopeful about the future of several key indicators of quality of life in Colorado. Regarding Colorado’s future, a plurality (38% or above) of voters think the quality of education, being a good state to start or own a business, and being a good place to raise a family will get worse.
But of all the quality of life indicators we tested, voters are most pessimistic about Colorado being a good place for homebuyers in the future. A stunning 63% of voters say they expect things to get worse in the future when it comes to Colorado being a good place to buy a home, including 33% who say "much worse".
Notably, housing is one area where newcomers (54% get worse), settled transplants (60%), and rooted residents (64%) share a similarly gloomy outlook about the future. Both renters and homeowners also find common ground on this question: 66% of renters believe things will get worse when it comes to CO being a good place to buy a home while 61% of homeowners agree.
A large majority of voters (59%) have lost faith that the economy in Colorado rewards hard work and playing by the rules. Just 32% believe that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can earn a good standard of living – these people are more likely to be men over the age of 55 and the Colorado NPS promoters.
In fact, responses to this question are notable not just for the wide margin by which Coloradans reject the premise that the state's economy usually rewards hard work, but also for the consensus across traditional political fault lines. Democrats (56%), Republicans (53%), and Unaffiliateds (65%) all agree that hard work too often doesn’t lead to a good standard of living in Colorado.
When thinking about the special session that addressed property taxes, a majority of voters have not heard enough to form an opinion. Just 23% approve and 26% disapprove of the legislation passed by the legislature and signed by the governor.
However, voters do have a strong opinion about how much they pay in taxes – 61% think they're too high (27% about right). Voters earning less than $50k stand at 68% too high / 19% about right, voters earning $50k-100k stand at 64% too high / 25% about right, and voters earning $100k+ stand at 53% too high / 35% about right.
Voters believe that cost of living (40%) is the most important issue for the Colorado state government to address. Crime and public safety (29%), housing affordability (28%), homelessness (25%), and economy and jobs (20%) round out the most important issues.
There are significant gaps in prioritization of housing affordability along generational and homeownership lines. Housing affordability (49%) shoots to the number one issue for those aged 18-29 while only 17% of seniors agree. Renters in the state also prioritize housing affordability (49%) above other issues; only 20% of people who own their home agree.
Further, crime and public safety rank as a high priority for seniors (41%) and Trump supporters (46%) but only 19% of young voters and 18% of Biden voters agree.
Voters are divided on what they think is most responsible for the increasing cost of rent in the state with a 4-point lean towards market forces like low housing supply and high demand (43%) over greed and price gouging on the part of landlords (39%). 14% of voters think "something else" other than greed or market forces is responsible for the increasing costs.
However, there is a significant gap in perspective by homeowner status: 52% of renters say greed and price gouging are more responsible, while only 34% of homeowners agree.
Just shy of half of voters would support the state funding and establishing targets for local governments to build more housing near transit, bus stops, and commercial areas – an idea potentially up for discussion at the State Capitol this session. 30% would oppose.
Percentages are considerably higher among renters (62% support) and voters of color (56% support).
Regarding treatment of homeless people, there is nearly even division on whether mental health and addiction treatment should no longer be voluntary (43%) or if treatment should remain voluntary (44%) with each subgroup largely divided.
Among those voters who say that homelessness is one of their top issues, there is a stronger belief that treatment should no longer be voluntary, with 55% choosing this option versus just 35% who say it should remain voluntary.
The Initiative 50 ballot is tied (35% No; 34% Yes), but 31% voters are undecided. This isn't surprising this far out from the election on a new issue but is a worrying sign for “Yes” supporters to be 16 points below the 50% threshold.
There is little uniformity across party lines, though Democrats show most support and Republicans show the most opposition.
Homeowners (No 39%) are 12 points more likely to oppose the Initiative 50 ballot measure than are Renters (No 27%).
Regarding voters’ trust and distrust levels for various societal institutions and actors, only small businesses in Colorado (69% trust) and election administrators (55% trust) are trusted by a majority to do the right thing.
Voters trust the federal government (61% distrust) and large corporations in Colorado the least (56% distrust), while they're more evenly split on state (-8 net trust) and local government (1:1 net trust). Journalists (-2 net trust) find themselves equally trusted and distrusted driven by 64% distrust among Republicans, muddled trust with UAFs (35% trust; 37% distrust), and 61% trust among Democrats.
Using the data from voters’ self-described level of distrust in these institutions and societal actors, we created a “distrust index”. Voters who rank highest in the distrust index are those who frequently said they distrusted these groups to do the right thing, whereas those who ranked low in the index rarely said they distrusted these institutions and actors.
Overall, 48% of Coloradans rank low on the distrust index (scoring 0-3 out of a possible score of 14), 30% rank in the middle (scoring 4-7), and 21% rank high (scoring 8 or higher).
Scores on the distrust index have a distinctly partisan and ideological bent. Just 4% of Biden voters fall into the “high distrust” category, compared to 46% of Trump voters. Similarly, only 5% of self-described liberals and 15% of moderates are “high distrust”; in contrast, 57% of very conservative voters and 30% of somewhat conservative voters are “high distrust”.
When looking at socio-economic indicators, such as education and income, we find trust gaps emerge as well. Among those making under $25k annual household income, 35% are high distrust, more than double what we find among those with incomes $100k+. And among voters who never attended college, 34% are high distrust versus only 17% among those with a four-year degree or higher.
Also notable are the racial dynamics of institutional trust. Among white voters, 47% fall into the medium or high distrust categories. But among voters of color, 67% are medium or high distrust.
