DENVER - Colorado voters are not eager for the major changes Gov. Bill Ritter and the General Assembly are talking about, according to a statewide survey released Friday.

The survey, done for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and the first major statewide issues poll since Ritter took office in January, backed some efforts by majority Democrats. Health care is state residents’ most pressing need, the environment and education are top-tier concerns and mortgage defaults must be addressed to reinflate sagging voter confidence, pollster David Hill said.

But Hill said the downturn in the economy has made people unwilling to make major policy changes or to give more of their money for government projects. Thirty-nine percent of the 602 respondents in the August survey called their tax burden too high — a level that is close to voter tax revolt — and no subject received enough concern to be considered a dominant issue with significant chances of passing at the polls, he said.

“We are a hesitant electorate right now,” Hill told about 90 chamber members. “(Colorado) is not going to look very enthusiastically on a tax increase on the 2008 ballot.”

Three major citizen commissions are looking at health care, transportation funding and education reform, and all have discussed sending a tax-increase proposal to voters next year.

In the survey, which has a margin of error of four points, 20 percent of respondents viewed health care as a top priority and 19 percent said the economy and cost of living are among the most important problems facing the state. Education was a top concern of 10 percent of respondents; transportation drew just 7 percent.

Not only is 20 percent hardly a mandate for action, but any proposed change in the healthcare system can’t be too radical, Hill said. He noted that while only 32 percent of respondents evaluate the state’s health care system as excellent or good, 63 percent said their own health-care plan fit one of those two descriptions.

“I’ve found that when people vote on things, they vote on their self-interest, not their perception of the generic,” he said.

A combination of the shaky economy and the instability that comes with the 2008 presidential election has left many voters wanting to keep the status quo, Hill said. The survey found that 44 percent think their economic situation is worse than a year ago, a jump of 9 percentage points since a similar survey in December.

It is not just financial ballot issues that could suffer because of that political inertia.

House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, has been traveling the state talking about the need to clean up contradictory constitutional amendments or to make it more difficult to amend the state’s constitution. But 60 percent of survey respondents said they’d prefer to leave the ballot initiative process as it is.

“I’m not sure that most people perceive our problems, and until you do, you’re not inclined to embrace our solution,” Romanoff said. “I think we’ve got our work cut out for us.”

Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce government affairs president Stephannie Finley reacted similarly to the moderate support voters expressed for putting more money into roadways, saying officials can’t stop pushing for reform because of the poll results. Most respondents rejected the ideas of adding toll lanes or charging more to use certain lanes during rush hour, and the biggest transportation concern is expansion of mass transit, results showed.

“We can’t stay away from transportation,” Finley said. “Let’s be leaders. Let’s help average citizens understand why transportation is so important, because we don’t have the luxury of avoiding it or not fixing the problem.”

Among other poll results:

- Ritter has a 57 percent approval rating versus a 19 percent disapproval rating, and 23 percent of voters said they had no opinion of him. Hill said that leaves him vulnerable if he is seen as supporting an initiative with which most residents disagree.

- The most controversial question showed that 60 percent of voters, including 30 percent of self-identified liberal Democrats, support drilling on the Roan Plateau to reduce dependence on oil imports. Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita, said this shows Ritter’s attempts to delay drilling show that he is out of touch with people.

But Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer argued that the question was misleading because natural gas deposits, not oil, lie beneath the pristine area in northwest Colorado.

- 44 percent said they are unsure if Referendum C money has been spent as intended or that they believe it hasn’t been spent that way. Just 31 percent favored extension of the fiveyear timeout from revenue limitations, an idea that has been discussed in some circles.