As Colorado legislative task forces begin to determine how to spend $850 million in federal money from the American Rescue Plan, a recent poll commissioned by the State Innovation Exchange (SiX) shows Colorado voters want funds directed to Colorado workers and families and into the communities most impacted by the pandemic.
“As the state determines how to use these funds, it’s important to understand the needs and priorities of Coloradans,” said Maggie Gómez, SiX Colorado State Director. “People understand that this pandemic hit some communities harder than others and they want the investments to go to our neighbors and small businesses that are still struggling to recover.”
When asked specifically about the American Rescue Plan, voters were asked to choose between investment in workers or businesses. Coloradans overwhelmingly chose workers (70 percent) over business (30 percent) in the forced-choice exercise. Additionally, when asked to choose whether rescue funds should be targeted to struggling communities or distributed evenly regardless of need, targeted relief is preferred by a 68 to 32 percent margin.
Overall, Colorado voters expressed a strong desire for the state government to prioritize investment in the state’s people (55 percent) over austerity and tax cuts (22 percent). A majority of Colorado voters (52 percent) believe the state has a bigger need for investment in infrastructure, education, and health care, while only 19 percent indicate the bigger need is across-the-board tax cuts.
The poll also revealed continuing anxiety about COVID-19 with a majority of Colorado voters (55 percent) either very concerned or somewhat concerned about increasing COVID cases and the emergence of the Delta variant. Additionally, seven in10 voters report being very or somewhat concerned about the impacts the pandemic has had on the mental health of Colorado residents.
TargetSmart designed and administered this statewide poll of registered voters conducted August 11-17, multi-mode live phone and online panel, email-to-web recruitment, matched to the TargetSmart voter file, total 901 completed interviews, credibility interval +/- 3.3 percent.
Click here for the poll memo and slide deck.
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