DENVER — New polling shows less than 50 percent of Colorado voters believe Gov. Jared Polis should be re-elected as governor, with his Republican opponent Heidi Ganhal 7.7 percentage points behind him, and a margin of error of 2.9 percent.
However, another 5.1 percent of the vote is carved up between the Libertarian candidate and Danielle Neuschwanger, who after losing at the Republican state convention chose to leave the GOP and get in the race as member of the Constitution Party.
The poll was commissioned by Ganhal’s campaign and conducted by the Trafalgar Group, an Atlanta-based polling and survey company founded by Robert Cahaly, a well-known political consultant.
Polis came in with 49.5 percent of the vote, Ganhal with 41.8 percent, Neuschwanger with 3 percent and Kevin Ruskusky with 2.1 percent.
“Just like Lee Zeldin in NY, we are 7 points out despite Jared Polis and his dark money groups spending $25 million,” Ganhal told Complete Colorado. “Polis has flooded the airwaves with lies and is still polling underwater.”
But the two people who continue to claim they want to stop Polis from another four years — former GOP gubernatorial candidate Greg Lopez and Neuschwanger herself — continue to either stay silent or refuse to admit defeat.
Lopez said after his loss to Ganhal in the primary that everyone needed to come together behind Ganhal, but he has yet to campaign on her behalf.
Lopez did not return a request for comment from Complete Colorado.
Neuschwanger said back in July on the Dan Caplis radio show that she would drop out if there was proof that she could not win the race, adding she did not think Ganhal had what it took to beat Polis.
Caplis told her multiple times on that show that she had no chance of winning, even comparing her campaign to that of Tom Tancredo, who got into the 2010 governor’s race after it became clear the Republican candidate Dan Maes could not beat John Hickenlooper.
“Tom Tancredo couldn’t get there with an open seat, how are you going to get there against a sitting governor?” Caplis said.
Neuschwanger held to her idea that she was the only candidate that can beat Polis.
“The mentality that I’m splitting the vote and not taking away from Polis, could not be farther from the truth,” Neuschwanger said on the broadcast, adding Democrats upset with Polis were more apt to vote for her and her extreme-right views than Ganhal. “If I did not think I could not win, I would not be wasting anyone’s time. Unfortunately, we are going to be stuck with Polis and his cronies for the next four years.”
Polis’ re-election doesn’t have to be a given, as most political insiders agree that all 3 of Neuschwanger’s percentage points would go to Ganhal if Neuschwanger would fulfill the promise she made on Caplis’ show.
“I have said since day one, if for some reason the polling does not show toward the general election that I can overcome Heidi and Polis, there is a potential that I would drop out,” she said.
Yet, despite multiple polls showing no possible chance of overtaking Ganhal, Neuschwanger has so far refused to drop out.
“The polls are finally starting to reflect what we are seeing on the ground and at our rallies, people are tired of having their concerns about inflation, crime and education dismissed as madness,” Ganhal said. “This Mad Mom is closing the gap. We’ve got eight days to get our message out, and I’m confident we will.”
