OnSight’s Curtis Hubbard weighs in on Colorado’s 2020 Senate race, and on several hometown presidential hopefuls.
Denver Post, Feb 26
Cortez Journal, Mar 9
DENVER – With a promise to “Keep Colorado Climbing,” Donna Lynne formally announced today she is entering the Democratic gubernatorial field.
Check out Donna’s web site for more information. LynneForColorado.com
“As the State’s Lieutenant Governor and Chief Operating Officer I work every day on behalf of all Coloradans, making sure we are delivering on our promises and overseeing the day to day operations of State government. I believe working to make government more accountable and transparent, especially in today’s supercharged political environment, is essential. In traveling to all 64 counties, I have heard first hand what Coloradans want from their elected officials, and understand what the state needs in our next governor,” said Lynne, who has served in her current position since May of 2016. “These experiences, as well as a life long commitment to service, have strongly influenced my decision to run.”
“Colorado has made a lot of progress under Governor John Hickenlooper, but there’s more to be done. Many of the challenges we face are tough and complicated. But, that doesn’t scare me, because I’ve been doing tough and complicated my whole life.”
With her husband, Jim Brown, supporters, and friends by her side, Lynne pointed out that her family motto has always been, “You can, and you will.”
The mantra served as inspiration when she worked as a waitress to put herself through college in three and a half years; as a single, divorced mother of three children who obtained two advanced degrees while working full time; and as an avid explorer of Colorado’s highest peaks.
Lynne, 63, has spent more than half of her career in the public sector. In the private sector, she worked as an executive providing affordable health care to millions of Americans. That background — as the candidate who has managed large budgets and tens of thousands of employees — is a differentiator.
She pointed out that under Gov. Hickenlooper, Colorado has the country’s top-ranked economy, but more must be done to increase wages and bring health care costs under control.
“Infrastructure is the key to keeping the economy growing, too,” Lynne said.” Our roads, our water, and broadband access must be improved.”
“Together, Governor Hickenlooper and I have fought to save the Affordable Care Act,” she said. “It’s not perfect, but we shouldn’t ignore its successes: especially in Colorado. The ACA has allowed the number of uninsured Coloradans to be cut in half and more than half a million Coloradans received coverage through the Affordable Care Act.”
Lynne made her announcement at Denver’s Spring Cafe, which employs refugees and provides training programs to prepare them for customer-service jobs. That backdrop served as a counter to what’s coming out of the Trump administration.
“What we are seeing today is absolutely reminiscent of what we saw back in the 1960’s: racism, sexism, disregard for the environment, and disregard for women’s rights,” she said. “Just look at the President’s cruel action to repeal DACA. We are here in a small business that understands the value that immigrants have in this country. We have to stand together for the values we share, and refuse to lose the progress we’ve made together.”
As the state’s Lt. Governor and Chief Operating Officer, Lynne has launched key initiatives to increase accountability and transparency in government and to make government services more efficient and effective. And she brought renewed attention to education for all Coloradans.
“The state needs a leader with the vision, the experience, and the tenacity to keep Colorado strong for years to come. A state where every Coloradan has a good job, where they can get the health care they need, and where our environment and great outdoors are protected for all,” she said. “We can achieve this vision if we face up to the tough and complicated challenges we have in front of us. We must Keep Colorado Climbing.”
An avid outdoor enthusiast, Lynne has climbed all of Colorado’s 14ers, has skied at 29 of Colorado’s 30 ski areas, and has participated in various bike rides throughout the state including Ride The Rockies and Pedal The Plains. The mother of three adult children, she lives in Denver with her husband Jim Brown, who has two adult children.
Lynne said she will make bringing all areas of Colorado together one of the focal points of her campaign.
“There’s a clear divide in this state between growing metropolitan areas and rural areas. That affects us all. We’re better than that, wherever we live. And for those of us living in urban Colorado, let’s not forget where our food comes from, the source of our water, and the economic power of Colorado as an outdoor destination.”
Following today’s announcement, Lynne will hit the campaign trail with stops in eight communities across Colorado:
Thursday, September 7
10:30 a.m. — Café Vino: 1200 S College Ave, Fort Collins, CO 80524
Friday, September 8
10 a.m. — Poor Richards: 320 N. Tejon Street, Colorado Springs, CO 80903
1 p.m. — The Gold Dust Saloon: 217 S Union Ave, Pueblo, CO 81003
3:30 p.m. — Soulcraft Brewing: 248 W. Rainbow Blvd, Salida, CO 81201
Saturday, September 9
9 a.m. — The Bookworm of Edwards: 295 Main Street, Edwards, CO 81632
1:30 p.m. —Kiln Coffee Bar: 326 Main Street, Grand Junction, CO 81501
6 p.m. La Plata County Democrat Office: 1911 Main Ave, Space 1, Durango, CO 81301
Sunday, September 10
11a.m. Milagros Coffee House: 529 Main St, Alamosa, CO 81101
A new statewide poll of 503 active voters shows a majority of Coloradans give high marks to their home state and its Democratic governor, and have strong reservations about President Donald Trump and many of the polices and issues put forward during his first 50 days in office.
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Keating Research is recognized by Democrats and Republicans alike as providing extremely accurate polling in Colorado.
The Keating/OnSight poll provides informative, accurate results using live-interviewer telephone (cell and landline) surveys and was Colorado’s most accurate in the 2016 Presidential election, predicting Hillary Clinton would win the state by 5 points in Colorado.
What follows are highlights are from the new Keating/OnSight Colorado statewide poll conducted March 8-13, 2017:
By nearly 2-to-1, Colorado voters say the state is heading in the right direction (58% right direction – 32% wrong direction), which is certainly a reflection of their positive feelings toward Colorado’s second-term Governor, John Hickenlooper. By roughly the same margin, Colorado voters are favorable toward Hickenlooper (57% favorable – 33% unfavorable).
Donald Trump, who lost Colorado to Hillary Clinton (43% to 48%), remains unpopular in Colorado (43% favorable – 55% unfavorable), including 45% of respondents who hold a “very unfavorable” view toward him. Opinions of Trump are distorted by voters’ partisan lenses – Democrats strongly dislike Trump (12% favorable – 87% unfavorable) and Republicans very much like him (83% favorable – 16% unfavorable), while the key voting block of unaffiliated voters are hostile territory for Trump (32% favorable – 64% unfavorable).
Trump’s presidency has gotten off to a decidedly rocky start, as nearly 5-of-10 Colorado voters think he is doing a lousy job: grading his performance with an F (38%) or D (10%). A minority of respondents – 36% – give Trump an A (19%) or B (17%).
Honesty is a key characteristic for any politician, and a majority – 52% – of Colorado voters think President Trump is “dishonest and tells lies”, while a minority – 40% – think he is “honest and tells the truth.” Suburban voters show a decided lack of confidence in Trump – a majority (55%) of voters in the five suburban counties of Arapahoe, Adams, Jefferson, Douglas and Broomfield say Trump is “dishonest and tells lies.”
Currently, Colorado voters are divided on Sen. Cory Gardner (39% favorable – 38% unfavorable), compared to a more positive opinion of him before Trump was elected in July, 2016 (45% favorable – 28% unfavorable).
Colorado’s Democratic U.S. Senator Michael Bennet remains popular with 51% viewing him favorably compared to 29% unfavorable, which is the same as before Trump was elected in July, 2016 (51% favorable – 28% unfavorable).
When asked about the Obamacare replacement plan recently released by Republicans in Congress, by a 13-point margin Colorado voters prefer to keep Obamacare (54%) rather than repeal Obamacare (41%). Attitudes toward Obamacare closely mirror the Presidential election – Clinton voters prefer to keep Obamacare (91%) and Trump voters prefer to repeal Obamacare (84%).
8-of-10 voters say they favor increasing the share of Colorado’s energy that comes from clean, renewable sources like wind and solar power in order to create jobs and economic opportunity in rural Colorado, while only 14% oppose it. Increasing clean, renewable energy is a pure non-partisan issue, favored overwhelmingly by Democrats (95% favor), Unaffiliated (84% favor) and by two-thirds of Republicans.
Keating Research is recognized by Democrats and Republicans alike as providing extremely accurate polling in Colorado.
This polling data is based on 503 live-interviewer telephone surveys conducted March 8-13, 2017 among “active” voters statewide in Colorado. For this sample of 503 interviews the worst case margin of error at the 95% level is plus or minus 4.4%. Respondents were chosen at random from a list of voters with phone numbers: 261 surveys (52%) were conducted on cell-phone and 242 surveys (48%) were conducted on a land line.
Colorado voters will be asked this fall to re-institute a presidential primary and to allow unaffiliated voters to participate in taxpayer-financed primary elections without choosing a party.
The measures were approved for the ballot today by the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office after verifying that enough voter signatures had been collected.
“Colorado voters value independence and want elections that encourage participation,” said Kent Thiry, Let Colorado Vote Campaign Chair and CEO of DaVita. “Only 5% of voters participated in the March caucuses, which is not a sign of a healthy democracy. Our initiatives will fix that and allow more than 1 million unaffiliated voters to participate in elections that they currently pay for, but thus far have been excluded from.”
The two measures would change state law (as opposed to amending the constitution):
“We believe, strongly, that allowing unaffiliated voters to participate in taxpayer funded primary elections is a matter of fairness,” said John Hereford, Let Colorado Vote Vice Chair and founder of Oak Leaf Energy Partners. “Engaging a broader cross-section of the voting spectrum in primaries will make our politicians more responsive to the center and not just the extreme wings of their respective parties.”
Colorado leads the nation in the growth of unaffiliated – or independent – voters since 2008, and they now make up 36% of all voters in the state.
But unaffiliated voters in Colorado face barriers that don’t exist in most other states. Colorado is among a minority of states that excludes unaffiliated voters from taxpayer-financed primary elections, and history shows that this system discourages participation.
Turnout for Colorado’s primary elections has been dropping since 2010, and just 1 in 5 voters participated in the state’s June primary.
The current primary does not include the presidential race, which is handled through a caucus system with preference polls rather than official ballots. Fewer than 190,000 of the state’s 3 million voters participated in the March caucuses.
Other campaign Vice Chairs are: Kelly Brough, President/CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber; Don Childears, President/CEO of the Colorado Bankers Association; Cole Finegan, partner at Hogan Lovells US; and Mike Kopp, executive director of Colorado Concern.
Let Colorado Vote is supported by a diverse array of individuals and organizations, including: Gov. John Hickenlooper; former Govs. Bill Ritter, Bill Owens, Roy Romer and Dick Lamm; former U.S. Sens. Mark Udall and Hank Brown; Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers; former Transportation Secretary Federico Peña; and civic and business groups, including: the Denver Metro Chamber, Colorado Concern, the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, Club 20, the Colorado Association of Realtors, the Colorado Contractors Association, the Metro Mayors Caucus, Progressive 15, the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and the Vail Valley Partnership.
For additional information, visit: www.letcovote2016.com.
Hillary Clinton holds a 10-point lead over Donald Trump among likely November 2016 Colorado voters, according to a Keating Research/OnSight Public Affairs presidential tracking poll released today.
In a matchup of the post-Super Tuesday front-runners for the Democratic and Republican nominations, Clinton leads Trump 49% to 39%, with 13% undecided.
“Clinton lost here last night, but moved closer to the nomination and is well-positioned with a 10-point lead in this swing state,” said Mike Melanson, founding partner of OnSight Public Affairs. “Looking at a November electorate, she consolidates the party base and picks up the other key categories needed to win.”
In a head-to-head matchup against Trump, the former Secretary of State receives support from nearly 9 in 10 Democrats. In addition, she has overwhelming support among the groups that are key to winning general elections in Colorado: Hispanics (+68% over Trump), voters ages 18-49 (+26% over Trump), and among women (+25% over Trump).
The statewide survey of 450 likely general-election voters was conducted Feb. 26-29 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6%.*
“Younger Colorado voters may be ‘feeling the Bern’ now, but they’re clearly ready for Hillary in November,” said pollster Chris Keating. “In comparison, Trump has only lukewarm support (74%) among Colorado Republicans and is nowhere close to where he needs to be among other demographics.” (Read the polling memo.)
In swing-state Colorado, candidates routinely compete for the support of unaffiliated voters in November — a group that breaks Clinton’s way by a 16-point (51% to 35%) margin.
The candidates are statistically tied among older voters age 50+ (Trump 44% – Clinton 41%).
On another closely watched public-policy issue, a majority of respondents said the Supreme Court vacancy created following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia should be filled before the November election.
A majority (52%) of voters supported taking action now, vs. 37% who said the decision should be left to the next president. The majority comes with support from 75% of Democrats and 59% of unaffiliateds. Roughly two-thirds of Republicans (67%) say the appointment should come after a new president takes office.
Keating Research/OnSight Public Affairs was recognized by Democrats and Republicans alike as providing extremely accurate tracking polling during the 2012 presidential election.
*Numbers may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding.
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From Jeb! to Hillary, this campaign season is bringing us a crop of new campaign logos to admire and to scorn.
Bright colors, corporate vibes, and a trend towards first-name-only branding define the direction of this batch.
The flexible graphic identity from Obama’s 2008 campaign is now regarded as archetypal political design. The combination of a bright primary-color palette, the sunrise O and bold typography implied a confident candidate with a clear vision for the future. Whether President Obama could ever live up to this image, his campaign’s savvy and powerful use of design set the bar for today’s presidential candidates. While none of 2016’s campaigns rise to the level of Obama 2008, some intriguing ideas and shared visual themes have emerged from the field.