As Election Day 2024 approaches, a new survey finds that 72% of Colorado residents believe the state’s elections will be “conducted fairly and accurately,” although this confidence in the electoral process declines for national elections.

Results are from the ninth annual Colorado Political Climate Surveyan effort to take the pulse of the state’s voters. This year, the survey team surveyed 800 Coloradans on a range of questions, from how they can vote on a series of ballot measures to their views on abortion, the economy, immigration and much more.

“This is our ninth annual study of Colorado. We want these studies to help compare opinions and trends across the state,” said Anand Edward Sokhey, co-author of the survey and professor in the Department of political science.

The survey was conducted by the American Politics Research Lab at CU Boulder and conducted by the polling company YouGov. Respondents completed the 10-12 minute online survey during the second half of October. For questions about the presidential race and ballot measures in the state, the team used a smaller number of respondents, about 750 people, and results weighted to reflect the state’s likely voters . The margin of error is approximately plus or minus 4.5%. For other opinion pieces, the team used the 800 respondents and the results weighted to be representative of adult Coloradans. The margin of error is approximately plus or minus 4.4%.

At the top of the ranking, Kamala Harris leads Donald Trump among likely voters in Colorado by 55% to 41%. The results also revealed a considerable gender divide: Among likely voters, women supported Harris 59% to 37%, while men leaned for Harris between 50% and 45%.

Elections under the microscope

According to the survey, Coloradans have mixed opinions about the country’s electoral process. For the presidential election, 66% of Colorado residents agreed with the statement: “If my preferred candidate does not win, I will consider the winner legitimate.” » Fourteen percent disagreed and 20% were unsure. These responses were consistent with partisanship, with 83% of Democrats agreeing, but only 52% of Republicans and 59% of independents.

In a troubling sign, 66% of those surveyed said they feared violence could break out on or after election day. But less than 40% of people feared that such violence could erupt in Colorado.

This year, the economy is top of mind for Coloradans across all political parties, a finding that has been consistent across recent iterations of the Colorado Political Climate Survey. Thirty-three percent of respondents rated the state’s economic conditions as “excellent” or “good,” while 28 percent rated them as “average” and 39 percent as “fair” or “poor.” “. These views also align with party affiliation, as 52% of Democrats take a positive view of the economy, but only 16% of Republicans and 24% of independents feel the same.

Majorities across party lines said they were “very concerned” or “concerned” about the cost of living in Colorado.

Electoral measures

The investigation also looked into a host of hot-button ballot measures in the state.

Likely voters favored Amendment 79, which would make abortion a constitutional right — with 58% in favor, 32% against and 10% unsure. Because this measure would amend Colorado’s constitution, it requires 55 percent of the vote to pass.

In contrast, ballot measures removing a provision from the constitution require a simple majority to pass. They include Amendment J, which would repeal language in the state constitution defining marriage as the union between one man and one woman. (Same-sex marriage is already legal in Colorado due to federal and state rulings declaring the bans unconstitutional). Respondents were in favor of Amendment J 54% to 37%, with 9% undecided.

Coloradans also seem to be developing a bit of fatigue with all those bubbles they have to fill out: a majority of those surveyed felt there were too many questions on the state’s ballot.

“Some years we ask a lot of voters, and this year was particularly cumbersome: Many voters’ ballots had multiple pages, front and back, which takes a lot of time and effort,” Sokhey said.