Cory Gardner, a Republican senator for Colorado, has experienced backlash from Coloradans since he verbally stated his support for President Trump and his reelection campaign in January 2018. This support is of particular interest because previously, in the 2016 election, Gardner didn’t support Trump. Let’s see what has changed.
Gardner rescinded his support of Trump in 2016 when the tapes of the president degrading women surfaced. Understandably so, this move can feasibly be seen as an attempt to save his image. Yet, he recently decided to endorse Trump and support his re-election. “I know what Kamala Harris and I know what Bernie Sanders will do to Colorado, and that’s why I’ll be supporting the president,” Gardner told the Washington, D.C.-based Independent Journal Review. It’s no surprise, especially when looking at where Gardner stands on the main policy issues currently. According to FiveThirtyEight, a website dedicated to analyzing opinion polls, politics and economics, in the 116th Congress, Gardner’s votes aligned with Trump’s approximately 50 percent of the time and 91.7 percent of the time in the 115th Congress.
Both Trump and Gardner have agreed on multiple heated topics. Some of these include support to ban federal funds toward abortions or health coverage that includes abortions, the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, disaster relief for Puerto Rico, the American Health Care Act of 2017 and others that can be found on the FiveThirtyEight website.
In order to gauge Gardner’s likelihood of being reelected, it’s important to first take a look at Colorado’s political climate. Known as a swing state, Colorado is typically a toss up. In the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton won with 48.2 percent of the votes, and Trump received 43.3 percent of the votes.
A gradual trend can be seen towards becoming a “blue” state. According to a study done by the American Politics Research Lab at CU Boulder, only 14 percent of Coloradans approved of the job performance of Congress. In 2017 presidential approval, in the same study, dropped to 34 percent. The most dramatic shift is seen with Gardner, who went from an approval rating of 43 percent in 2016, to 25 percent in 2017. A shift has been noted, as Denver and Boulder have experienced a sharp increase in Democratic voters, and Republicans maintain a hold on the rural, less populated sections of Colorado. If this pattern continues, the amount of Democratic voters may tip the balance.
It’s important to look at where Coloradans stand on the current popular issues as well. Drawing from the same study, over 60 percent of Coloradans favor gun control, 71 percent are in favor of keeping “Dreamers” in the country and half report being concerned about climate change. These beliefs coincide best with the Democratic platform.
Lastly, the 2018 midterm elections provide insight into the political forecast of Colorado. The ballots revealed that 56 percent of people voted for Democrats. That is higher than the national average of 48 percent.
After uncovering the trends of Coloradan voters, it’s no longer a surprise that Cory Gardner is facing ramifications for supporting Trump. Quite frankly, he is hindered because his position on today’s policies tend to align with Trump, and if Trump’s approval rating isn’t high, Gardner’s will not be either. It’s safe to say that Colorado is still a toss up, but it won’t be for long.
