Talk Elections

At this point, the 2014 Colorado governor's race is too close to call, with 42 percent for Democratic Gov. Hickenlooper and 41 percent for former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, a possible Republican challenger.

In other possible matchups, Hickenlooper gets 42 percent to 40 percent for Secretary of State Scott Gessler, and gets 43 percent to 37 percent for State Sen. Greg Brophy.

By a slim 47 - 43 percent margin, Colorado voters approve of the job Hickenlooper is doing. Voters are divided 45 - 44 percent on whether he deserves reelection. Voters also are divided in their opinion of the governor, with 45 percent favorable to 42 percent unfavorable.

Tancredo gets a split 32 - 29 percent favorability with 37 percent who haven't heard enough about him to form an opinion.

For Gessler, 74 percent don't know enough to form an opinion. Brophy gets an 86 percent 'don't know.'

Colorado voters say 69 - 24 percent that the death penalty should stay on the books and not be replaced by life in prison with no chance of parole, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. At the same time, Gov. John Hickenlooper finds himself running neck and neck with possible challengers in the 2014 governor's race.

Voters disapprove 67 - 27 percent of Gov. Hickenlooper's decision to grant convicted murderer Nathan Dunlap a reprieve, and 74 percent say the death penalty will be "very important" or "somewhat important" in their vote for governor next year, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.

Women want to continue the death penalty 63 - 27 percent, while men support continuation 75 - 21 percent. Support for keeping the death penalty is 87 - 11 percent among Republicans and 73 - 21 percent among independent voters, while Democrats say 49 - 41 percent switch to life in prison without parole.

More than 70 percent of Protestant and Catholic voters support the death penalty.

The death penalty is applied fairly in Colorado, voters say 53 - 27 percent, but is does not deter others from committing murder, voters say 57 - 38 percent.

"By nearly 3-1, Colorado voters support the death penalty in their state and say where their elected officials stand on it could affect their vote," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

"This could set up a high-voltage reelection campaign where the fate of a convicted murderer could help decide the fate of an incumbent governor."

Colorado voters say 63 - 29 percent that Dunlap should face the death penalty, and support the death penalty for Aurora movie theater shooter James Holmes 67 - 26 percent.

"With scant likelihood Colorado will see an execution during the Hickenlooper governorship, Coloradans strongly support executing Nathan Dunlap and James Holmes," Malloy said.

From June 5 - 10, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,065 registered voters with a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points. Live interviewers call land lines and cell phones.

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-institute/colorado/release-detail?ReleaseID=1907

Why are conservatives so opposed to abortion but so supportive of the death penalty?

Probably because the fetus didn't commit pre-medidated murder.

Excellent news! The people will pass judgment on the leftists.

You know, forcibly closing the door on all possible future hope of redemption in this world by killing somebody really doesn't carry the same moral character or significance that people inflamed with blood-lust seem to think that it does.

What if the fetus did? :P

It would be interesting to see if there was a correlation between serious violent crimes and even simple assault and battery and places that have higher support for the Death Penalty.

Though I once saw that even in places where the Death Penalty has been abandoned, most people still think its a good idea.

Excellent news. Low 40s barely leading imperfect challengers like Tancredo and Gessler will make Hickenlooper one of the RGA's prime targets.

My feeling on this (for the 1000th time) is that the death penalty is the price society has determined will be paid for certain acts of pre-meditated murder and I agree that should be the price.  I want anyone sentenced to that to have DNA tests if DNA was a part of establishing their guilt and subsequent sentence, assuming such testing wasn't used initially.  Executing someone who has even the slightest possibility of being innocent is unacceptable, and although there probably is no 100% certainty that will never happen, we need to be as diligent as possible in ensuring it doesn't.

I reject your characterization of blood lust, though you're not the first, or last, to make it.

Wow, I thought this might be an Onion article at first - always assumed Hickenlooper was safe.

Wouldn't mind seeing him taken out, largely because I think he'd be a great candidate for President/Vice President and it takes him out of contention. As an opponent of the death penalty, I applaud his decision, though. I'd probably be an undecided voter if I lived one state west of here.

Executing someone who has even the slightest possibility of repenting if left alive is unacceptable, and that applies to everyone.


Oh, I don't consider you an individually bloodthirsty person. We live in a society that, by and large, encourages on a mass level the sensibility that retribution in kind is acceptable or even desirable in matters of life and death, and that sensibility makes sense to you. This isn't your fault or anybody's in particular.

I certainly respect yours and all opposite opinions on this matter.

I don't think Hick is gonna lose especially to a tea partied like Tancredo. Ryan a conservative outlawed the death penalty in Ill. People at first were opposed. Evidence came out it was administered unjustly.

I don't like Loop, he's basically Governor Moderate Hero, but he's losing popularity for the wrong reasons.

Fools gold, but of course Republicans will act like Tancredo is up by 20 or something.

I'm gonna go ahead and call this one an outlier.  Quinnipiac often shows Republicans overperforming (see: CT 2010, 2012), and the demographic shifts of the state are going too be too much for Tancredo and other Republicans to overcome, especially by 2014.

My gut puts this race in Lean D territory.

Yeah, because one bad policy decision in the eyes of the voters is really going to kick out a popular governor. Sure, Hickenlooper just lost a lot of political momentum, but with approval in the high 40's, demographics, and his previously strong record will pull him through this race.

Well he couldn't avoid the issues forever. The death penalty is pretty potent huh?

I'm still betting against Tancredo and Gessler though.

Nathan, until now, we've agreed on pretty well every issue that's come up. But here, I would beg to differ. Redemption has to have a price, as far as I'm concerned - something must be paid equal to the crime committed. And for the likes of tyrants, rapists, serial killers, and spree murderers like Breivik, imprisoning them would be a waste of money and would accomplish just about as much as sitting them in the corner to think about what they've done.

That being said, this should not be Hickenlooper's litmus test after all the good he's done.

This is a weird poll. 45% say Hickenlooper deserves re-election, but only 43% support him against a no-name state senator?

Colorado hasn't executed anyone since 1997. One person has been on death row since 1996 for a quadruple-murder in what sounds like an armed robbery. Two are on Death Row for a murder of witnesses in 2008. Capital punishment in Colorado is rare and inefficient.

This will likely wither away. Maybe it is best that the really-worst criminals go into oblivion instead of getting perversely memorialized because some jurisdiction finally decides to poison, electrocute, shoot, behead, or hang them.

'Paying something equal to the crime committed' is a good way to get oneself wrapped up in sophistry about what 'counts' (if the general categories of options for judicial sanction for serious crimes are fine, imprisonment, and death, how do we translate those in terms of 'equivalence' onto crimes that don't directly relate to loss of money, freedom of movement, or life?) and, in all honesty, strikes me as an unexamined revenge mentality. How does killing somebody accomplish any more than 'sitting them in the corner to think about what they've done'? The allegedly higher cost to keeping someone imprisoned for life (not actually higher in most cases, at least in the American criminal justice system) is a frankly small price to pay for not having blood on our collective hands, for asserting some degree of moral superiority or attempted superiority over people who have committed monstrous crimes.

Allow me to preface this by saying that I am not a supporter of the death penalty.

Nevertheless, the "the death penalty is bad because it's more expensive than life in prison" argument seems to me to be extraordinarily weak, since it's essentially a milder version of the Charles Taylor pitch. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberian_general_election,_1997)  It's not that the death penalty is inherently expensive - way back when the only costs were a hangman and a piece of rope.  Rather, it's death penalty opponents saying that "if you try to apply the death penalty we will finance endless frivolous appeals and get our like-minded judges to let them drag out interminably in order to make it more expensive than life in prison."

Oh, of course. Which is more expensive depends on the justice system in question and obviously at most points throughout history it was the death penalty. I don't really think this is a good, or pertinent, argument in either direction, which is why I relegated it to a parenthetical comment in response to one of Wyodon's points.

Heh, Colorado. The ultimate Republican tease.

I'll wait for PPP or a local pollster to take a look before believing that. At any rate once this wears off Pubs will be choosing between a loon and a second tier candidate against a once and future popular Dem governor.

The GOP is just THAT weak in CO and they've been that way for over a decade. The party has had chances to get back in power and has put out some brutal candidates. The GOP is stuck in "1985" mode in a state that socially, now reflects 2013 values and it's not changing.

Popular or not, Hickenlooper will win another term.

I generally favor keeping capital punishment an option, but it sure would seem like mob rule to me if the multitude ran a politician out of town because he actually spared someone's life.

GIVE US BARABBAS

The latest Magellan Strategies poll also has a tied race.

Illinois, even with Madigan, Connecticut, and Maryland, and now Colorado are pure tossups for the Dems, now.

I'm shocked to hear you say that as a Republican.

Why not? He (like this Republican) is just being realistic.

That said, I'm amazed at these numbers over the death penalty affecting a governor's race so strongly. Nationally the tide seems to be headed the other way, but I haven't seen pro-death penalty numbers this strong since the early 80's.

Part of a national counter-trend, or just local/regional/MoE noise, I wonder?

It's because of James Holmes. People don't want him to evade the needle.

I certainly hope so, but I do think it's just the regional circumstance of Hickenlooper staying the executions of some particularly onerous murderers.

New Poll: Colorado Governor by Quinnipiac University on 2013-06-10 (https://uselectionatlas.org/POLLS/GOVERNOR/2014/polls.php?action=indpoll&id=820130610015)

Summary: D: 42%, R: 41%, U: 14%

Poll Source URL: Full Poll Details (http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-institute/colorado/release-detail?ReleaseID=1907)

I would be really sad to see Hickenlooper go. He was a big reason we have civil unions in the state, and I am not a big fan of the death penalty. I would really be dissapointed if Tancredo beat Hickenlooper, but I wouldn't be surprised if somebody like Gessler beat him. Colorado is still pretty divided, but I think the state is drifting more and more into the Democratic collumn each election.