This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at coloradosun.com.
Attorney General Phil Weiser has a sizable lead over U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet in Colorado’s Democratic primary for governor among voters who have made up their minds in the race, according to a new poll commissioned by a group supporting Weiser.
The survey shows the contest’s outcome will ultimately depend on how undecided voters decide to cast their ballots through Tuesday.
Forty-five percent of likely Democratic primary voters who participated in the poll said they would vote for Weiser, while 36% said they would vote for Bennet. Nineteen percent said they were undecided.
The poll was conducted by Public Policy Polling on Wednesday and Thursday among 600 likely Democratic primary voters via landline (38%) and text message (62%). It had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
The survey was paid for by Fighting for Colorado, the state super PAC supporting Weiser’s campaign.
Sixty-two percent of those who participated in the survey were registered Democrats, while 38% were unaffiliated.
Turnout for Tuesday’s primary so far has been low. County clerks expect a rush of ballots to come in over the weekend and on Monday and Tuesday, as is typical for Colorado elections.
As of Wednesday night, 500,000 voters had cast ballots in Colorado’s primaries, about 200,000 of which were submitted by unaffiliated voters. Most unaffiliated voters whose ballots had been processed through Wednesday had chosen to vote in the Democratic primary over the GOP ballot.
