October 22, 2018 12:40 PM UTC

Poll: Voters Like Setbacks, School Funding, and Jared Polis

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Denver Post reports today on new polling results from the University of Colorado’s American Politics Research Lab:

In the first public poll results released on these issues, 58 percent of respondents said they would vote yes for Amendment 73, which would raise taxes on individuals making more than $150,000 a year and corporations. Because it’s a constitutional amendment, it needs 55 percent to pass.

Meanwhile, 52 percent of voters said they support Proposition 112, which would require new oil and gas wells to be at least 2,500 feet away from buildings…

…In the race for governor, Democrat Jared Polis has a 12-point lead over Republican Walker Stapleton, 54 percent to 42 percent.

The Post quotes one of the poll’s authors expressing surprise that Polis holds a 12-point lead over Stapleton, though we’re not sure why. The CU poll states a margin of error of 3.5%, which is right in line with other public polls on the Governor’s race that have shown Polis with a 7-9 point advantage.

The most interesting numbers here are in regard to the ballot measures, which have received much less public polling attention than the candidate horse races. The oil and gas industry has been spending millions upon millions of dollars on its “No on Amendment 12” campaign but apparently have not yet been able to get through to a majority of voters. The industry is having better luck with Amendment 74, which has the support of 63 percent of voters.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is in the 58 percent support for Amendment 73, the school-funding measure that seems to be pretty popular despite limited advertising on its behalf. The CU poll did not ask questions about Proposition 109 and Proposition 110 — the two transportation infrastructure ballot measures — and it will be interesting to see if support for 73 impacts either of these new spending requests.