A new poll of 615 likely 2026 Colorado voters conducted by the Colorado Polling Institute in late March found 58 percent have unfavorable views of Trump, with 55 percent of those voters holding very unfavorable opinions. Of the Independents polled, 60 percent said they have an unfavorable opinion of Trump. The poll also found that 40 percent of the state;s voters have a favorable opinion of the president.
The CPI is a nonpartisan, nonprofit polling group with a commitment to make all of its data public.
Playing into the negative opinion of Trump in this state is the possible impact of Trump’s tariff policy on Colorado’s economy. The pollsters reached out before Trump announced he would place reciprocal tariffs on a broad swath of countries, which has sent the market spinning. But before the poll was conducted, Trump had already gone back and forth on a variety of tariffs, including those imposed on Canada and Mexico.
“When we asked, ‘In the long run, do you think that the Trump administration's tariff policy will have a positive, negative or no impact on Colorado residents?,’ most told us they didn't have much faith in the long-term benefits,” Kevin Ingham, principal of Democratic polling group Aspect Strategic ,told reporters in a meeting about the poll results.
In fact, 59 percent of those surveyed said the tariff policies would have a negative impact on Colorado residents. On the flip side, 32 percent said the impact would be mostly positive.
Coloradans Worried About Economy, Cost of Living Under Trump
Following those lines, 47 percent of those polled said they expect Colorado’s economy to get worse, with just 15 percent saying they expect the state economy to get better. Pollsters found those who support the MAGA movement are most likely to believe the economy will improve. The pollsters determined that housing costs are the top issue Coloradans think local government needs to address. Generally, cost of living was a concern for voters: When CPI asked people to specifically weigh in on various elements that go into the cost of living, 68 percent said housing costs are a very big problem, followed by 50 percent saying the cost of health care and prescriptions presents a very big problem. Food and grocery costs were a very big problem for 47 percent of respondents.
“Moms were 10 points higher than dads to say food and grocery prices were a concern,” said Lori Weigel, principal of Republican polling group New Bridge Strategy. “We're still getting a dynamic where maybe moms are at the grocery store a little bit more and having to buy for an entire family there.”
The cost of car and home insurance also ranked high as a concern, with 45 percent of those polled saying those costs are a very big problem. People also expressed worries about paying for utility and gasoline.
Along with cost-of-living concerns, Coloradans want the state government to focus on schools and education, as well as homelessness and immigration.
“Notably, there is one new issue that sort of has moved up and wasn't on people's consciousness a year ago — and that is saying that Colorado state government should be addressing standing up to Trump,” Weigel said.
Around 5 percent of poll respondents said they would like a focus on standing up to Trump, she added; all of those people are Democrats.
Many Trump ideas are being enacted by the Department of Government Efficiency, helmed by Elon Musk. Coloradans do not like him, either. Along with Colorado leading the anti-Tesla movement, the pollsters found 59 percent of those in the state have an unfavorable opinion of Elon Musk.
Additionally, 54 percent distrust DOGE, with 49 percent of those polled saying they distrust DOGE a lot and just 31 percent saying they trust DOGE will do the right thing. Those results make sense, considering that 60 percent of Colorado voters sau hey think Trump’s firing of federal employees and cancellation of federal contracts will negatively impact residents in the state.
Trump supporters do not agree, with the poll finding those who are MAGA supporters believe firing federal employees and cancelling federal contracts will be a benefit.
“MAGA supporters overwhelmingly say that this is going to have a positive impact on Coloradans, while 83 percent of non-MAGA supporters say this will have a negative impact,” Ingham said.
Coloradans Are Unhappy With Democrats, Too
But while Coloradans may not approve of Trump and Musk, they’re not necessarily happy with the Democratic Party, either. Compared to CPI’s November 2024 exit poll, the Democratic Party has slid from a positive favorability rating to a negative one. Just 39 percent of respondents have a favorable view of the Democratic Party now, compared to 52 percent in November 2024. “That's a pretty incredible reversal, and it's driven almost entirely by Harris voters, including both Democrats and unaffiliateds who supported Harris,” Ingham said. “In fact, Democrats’ views of their own party have shifted more than unaffiliated views.”
Despite the lagging view of the Democratic Party, the perception of Colorado’s statewide elected officials is more positive now than a year ago, with Democrat Governor Jared Polis’s approval remaining stable and Democrat senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper having higher favorability ratings in 2025 than 2024, according to CPI polling.
Pollsters say people generally have a worse view of Congress as a whole than of their own representatives, which could explain the results. Additionally, Bennet has been one of the Democrats who's vocalized concerns about the operation of the party in recent months.
“Some of these elected officials that are trying to create some daylight between them and the Democratic brand, much as we've often seen Republicans having to do in our state, now we're seeing Democrats do it,” Weigel said.
Colorado voters are divided on how they think congressional Democrats should deal with Trump, with 52 percent believing it would be best to try to find common ground with the presidential administration and 48 percent believing Democrats should oppose the Trump administration as much as possible. Among Democrats, the split is larger: 83 percent say congressional Democrats should resist as much as possible and just 17 percent say finding common ground is the way to go.
Of those who believe Democrats should oppose the Trump administration, 78 percent believe Democrats could limit Trump’s agenda if they tried harder and only 22 percent think Democrats' hands are tied because they are out of power nationally.
“There are a lot of voters out there who are alarmed by what they're seeing in the Trump administration, and they feel as though Democrats are sort of inept at doing anything about it and they don't feel like they're trying hard enough,” Ingham said. “Rightly or wrongly, there is a lack of sympathy among Coloradans who want a strong resistance to the administration for the argument that Democrats can't do much because they are out of power.”
Though the Democratic Party may be falling out of favor in Colorado, the image of the Republican Party in Colorado has improved slightly since November 2024, with Republicans generally feeling more positive about their party than they did immediately after the election, Ingham added.
