Congressman Cory Gardner and U.S. Sen. Mark Udall. (The Denver Post)
WASHINGTON — A new poll of likely Colorado voters again found Republican Cory Gardner and Democrat Mark Udall in a statistical tie — a result that tracks with most, , of the polling done so far in this fiercely-fought race.
The automated survey of 652 likely Colorado voters by Public Policy Polling has Gardner ahead two percentage points on Udall, the one-term incumbent. Gardner’s 47 percent to 45 percent advantage, however, is within the 3.8 percent margin of error listed by PPP, which contacted voters Sept. 19 to Sept. 21.
Of those polled, 50 percent supported President Barack Obama in the last election versus 44 percent who backed Mitt Romney. Party registration was divided almost exactly: 34 percent were Democrats, 33 percent were Republicans and 34 percent self-identified as an affiliation other than the two major political parties.
The Senate results, however, were just one piece of the 25-question survey. Several questions focused on the issue of “tax fairness” and a PPP memo that accompanied the survey opined that support for this idea was strong enough that “it appears to be a core value held by the public.”
In reaching that conclusion, the firm relied on questions framed as such:
“Now I’m going to read you a list of positions a candidate for U.S. Senate might take, and then ask you if you’d be much more likely, somewhat more likely, somewhat less likely, or much less likely to vote for that candidate, or would it not make a difference. Here’s the first one: A candidate who wants to make sure the rich and corporations pay their fair share of taxes.”
[47 percent were “much more likely” and 17 percent “somewhat more likely”]And this question:
“Burger King is buying a Canadian company, and it will change its corporate address to Canada from the United States to reduce what it pays in taxes. Do you approve or disapprove of this?”
[50 percent strongly disapproved and 19 percent somewhat disapproved]A few thoughts to keep in mind when reading the PPP results. Partisans previously have accused the North Carolina-based firm of having a liberal bias, a claim that poll guru Nate Silver explored in . But PPP also was in forecasting election results that year.
