The new survey of Colorado from Public Policy Polling (D) shows Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet increasing his support against his primary challenger, former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff. Meanwhile, the race for the GOP nomination is turning into a dogfight.
The numbers for the Dems: Bennet 46%, Romanoff 31%. The survey of likely Dem primary voters has a ±4.7% margin of error. Back in March, Bennet had a much smaller lead of 40%-34%. The primary will be held on August 10.
Bennet was first appointed to the Senate in January 2009, to take the seat formerly held by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. He was previously the superintendent of the Denver public schools, but had never held a prior elected public office. Romanoff got into the race later in the year.
On the Republican side, former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton has been the establishment favorite, but is now in a tight race with Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck, who has received the support of some conservative activists such as the folks at RedState.com.
The numbers: Norton 31%, Buck 26%, with several other candidates in single-digits, and 29% undecided. The survey of likely GOP primary voters has a ±4.6% margin of error. Back in March, Norton led Buck by a margin of 34%-17%.
“In Colorado the Democratic primary was supposed to be competitive and the GOP one a foregone conclusion,” writes PPP president Dean Debnam. “But it seems like the opposite of that is happening. Bennet has expanded his lead while Buck and Norton are headed for a close one.”
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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