Romney gains in Colorado but losing big among crucial voting blocs

A recent survey of Colorado voters shows likely Republican Party presidential nominee Mitt Romney making slight gains in the state, mostly among unaffiliated voters, but still trailing Pres. Obama overall, and especially among young people, women and Latino voters.

Mitt Romney in Colorado earlier this month. (Photo by Troy Hooper)

Left-leaning Raleigh-based Public Policy Polling phoned 800 Coloradans over the weekend (pdf) and found Obama leading Romney by 7 points in the crucial swing state, down from 13 points in April. Unaffiliated or independent voters make up roughly a third of the electorate in Colorado and Romney in April trailed Obama among them by a whopping 26 points. He is still losing to Obama among unaffiliated voters now but only by 10 points.

Obama, however, continues to maintain large leads among other crucial voting blocs.

Even though much of the polling for the survey had been completed before the announcement Friday that Obama was ending deportation for young undocumented immigrants, the results show Obama leading among the large and growing Latino population here by 27 points.

Perhaps just as significant, Obama leads by 14 points among Colorado women, the same voting bloc that sent Democrat Michael Bennet back to the Senate in 2010, cutting deeply into Tea Party-GOP “wave election” victories that year in the state.

Finally, although Romney leads among senior citizens by 14 points, he loses by 12 points among all other age demographics. Among voters under 30, the stiff, pomaded grandfather, who opposes gay rights and clean energy programs, loses to Obama 2 to 1, or 60 percent to 30 percent.

Looking at the numbers, PPP Director Tom Jensen, predicts that, barring any significant change in policy stances, stormy weather will afflict Colorado Republicans this election cycle and for many election cycles to come.

“There’s a huge generational divide in [the state] that doesn’t bode well for the GOP’s long term prospects… Colorado’s been shifting towards the Democrats over the last decade and unless Republicans can appeal more to younger people that movement’s going to continue.”

In that line of thought, Jensen echoes the chorus of Republicans who, during a high-profile standoff in the state legislature last month over a same-sex civil unions bill, pleaded with party leaders to move away from the party’s hardline anti-gay rights position established decades ago that has come to seem increasingly out-of-step and that alienates young voters.

PPP reports the margin of error on the poll as +/- 3.5 percent.

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