Is Colorado a Competitive State?

The latest Wall Street Journal map of battleground states shows Colorado as “near” competitive in the presidential race, but leaning Democratic. Only three states were listed completely competitive: New Hampshire, Ohio and North Carolina. But a Politico article from last week put Colorado in its list of eleven competitive states.

If the national race is close, it will be close in Colorado. President Obama, a talented campaigner, hit the right notes in Colorado to win its Democratic and Democratic-leaning unaffiliated voters, but his win here tracked his national numbers (9 points in 2008, 7 points nationally; 5 points in 2012 and 4 points nationally).

Candidates and their campaigns matter. The little polling data that exists from 2015 indicates Hillary Clinton is not a natural campaigner and has high unfavorability and low trust levels. But, Donald Trump may be worse, especially the new post Judge Curiel version. As of now, Colorado should rank competitive.

Also see Politico: Battleground boss: Clinton leads Trump across swing-state map