Poll: Udall leading big with Hispanics

DENVER, Colo. — A new poll from a major national Hispanic group offered good news for Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) after a tough week, giving him more than half of the Hispanic vote in the state.

{mosads}The Colorado survey from the National Council of La Raza gives Udall 55 percent support from occasional Hispanic registered voters, while Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) takes 14 percent support. 

But about a third of those polled have yet to decide on a candidate, suggesting Republicans have an opportunity to dig into Udall’s considerable lead with the Democratic voting bloc. 

Still, it’s unlikely that in the final three weeks of the race, Gardner would be able to narrow Udall’s lead among Hispanic voters to a point where they’re no longer a possible advantage for the Democrat. 

And Democrats are heavily focused on canvassing Hispanic voters to turn that possibility into a certainty. The survey shows 80 percent of respondents say they’re almost certain to vote this fall, and a plurality, 43 percent, say they’re more enthusiastic about voting this year.

Democrats have long said the growing Hispanic population in Colorado would be advantageous as they battle to hold onto the seat, which has become fiercely competitive since Gardner entered the race earlier this year. But the issue of immigration reform has largely been absent from the race, and some Democrats have speculated President Obama has lost favor with Hispanics by promising executive action on deportations this summer and then postponing it until after the elections.

The poll suggests otherwise. But it does come on the heels of two less favorable statewide polls for Udall, both of which showed Gardner with a slight lead over the incumbent and underscored the need for the senator to turn out base voters, including Hispanics.

Udall said in a statement to The Hill that the poll “confirms what we’ve been hearing on the ground — that communities across Colorado are coming to understand just how far backward Gardner would take us.”

“Coloradans know that because of my work in the Senate, we have the best opportunity in more than a decade to fix our broken immigration system. But Coloradans are increasingly frustrated by Congressman Gardner’s efforts to block immigration reform and take us backward on everything from income inequality to education,” he added.

Latino Decisions polled 400 Hispanic occasional registered voters in Colorado bilingually via landline, cellphone and Web survey from Sept. 19-28 for NCLR Action Fund, and the survey has a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.