Colorado Economy Recovers, But Race Still Close

The presidential race in Colorado has been close the entire year, with a small margin of error-sized advantage for Barack Obama.  The economy in Colorado has improved since January, but Obama’s margin seems impervious to the local change in conditions.

Alana Semuels of the Los Angeles Times describes the apparent contradiction of an improved economy and a still struggling president. My observation was that national conditions tend to be more determinative in voters' presidential choice than local.

"There's a sense here that the recovery is on," said Floyd Ciruli, founder of a Denver-based polling firm. "But voters, to some extent, don't base their vote on local economic conditions, but rather what direction they feel the country is going in. And people here are anxious and disgusted with Washington." (LA Times, September 12, 2012)

See Los Angeles Times – In Colorado, economy rebounds, but not support for Obama