Western Slope Turning Purple?

US Rep. John Salazar is still holding a comfortable lead in the Third Congressional District, according to a recent poll conducted by SurveyUSA and the prediction is that Salazar will hold his seat in 2006. What is interesting in this recent poll is that President Bush’s approval rating is below 50% and gubernatorial candidate, Bob Beauprez also is behind in statewide polls. That certainly does not bode well for any Republican candidate campaign on the Western Slope.Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting From SurveyUSA:

Q: If the election were today, and you were standing in the voting booth right now, who would you vote for? Republican Scott Tipton? Democrat John Salazar? Libertarian Bob Sargent? Or some other candidate?

Democrats Hold House Seat in CO3:
In an election for the U.S. House of Representatives today, 9/18/06, in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, incumbent Democrat John Salazar defeats RepublicanPhotobucket - Video and Image Hosting challenger Scott Tipton by 11 points, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for KUSA-TV Denver. Salazar’s 11-point margin is unchanged since the last poll in August.

Salazar gets 94% of Democrat votes. Tipton gets 75% of Republican votes. 21% of Republicans cross over and vote for the Democrat. Independents prefer Salazar 64% to 20%. Tipton wins among voters age 35-49 but loses in other age groups. Salazar leads by 7 points among whites and by 44 points among Hispanics. Those who approve of President Bush’s performance in office support Tipton by 61 points. Those who disapprove of Bush support Salazar by 74 points.

President George W. Bush’s approval rating among likely voters in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District is 45%.

The district covers most of the Western Slope and wraps south to Pueblo. In 2004, Salazar won with 50% of the vote compared to his opponent, Greg Walcher of Mesa County at 47%. Republicans have 160,000 registered voters followed by 140,000 registered Democrats and 134,000 unaffiliated voters.

SurveyUSA of Verona, NJ, was the source of this information and graph.  Photo of the Club 20 Salazar/Tipton debate by Leslie Robinson.

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