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POLL: Women, moderates give Colo. Dems key wins
DENVER — Women and those who consider themselves moderates helped Democrats win Colorado's Senate and gubernatorial races, even though around half the state's voters say they have unfavorable opinions of the party, according to a telephone poll of early and absentee Colorado voters conducted for The Associated Press and television networks.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., was declared the winner Wednesday over Republican challenger Ken Buck in a tight race.
Bennet's win and that of John Hickenlooper in the governor's race were bright spots for Democrats at a time when about half of Colorado voters say they disapprove of how Barack Obama is handling his presidency, according to the poll.
Around half of those supporting Buck said one reason they voted for him was to express opposition to Obama, according to the survey.
The poll showed slightly more than half of women voted for Bennet. Some women's groups had criticized Buck for opposing abortion even in cases of rape and incest and for a comment before the GOP primary, when he said voters should back him over former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton "because I do not wear high heels." Buck has said he meant the comment to be lighthearted.
Outside groups poured millions of dollars into ads against both candidates, with some calling Buck wrong for Colorado and others painting Bennet as a supporter of big spending.
According to the poll, about one-third of the voters in the Senate race said the candidate quality that mattered most was understanding the needs of people like them, rather than having the right experience, not being too extreme, or being able to bring about change.
When asked to describe their vote for Senate this year, nearly one-third said they disliked the other candidate. About one-fourth said they liked their own candidate but with reservations.
Buck's supporters more often tended to be men, tea party supporters, and a much higher percentage said they were angry with how the federal government is working.
More than half of Bennet's supporters were women. A large portion of his supporters said they think Buck's views are too extreme and described themselves as moderates.
The survey of Colorado voters was conducted for AP by Edison Research. A total of 1,095 voters who voted early or absentee were interviewed by landline or cellular telephone from Oct. 22 through Oct. 31. Results for the full sample were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points; it is higher for subgroups.
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Methodology details: http://surveys.ap.org/exitpolls/
