Colorado Is a Great State to Watch Politics

Floyd Ciruli with KOA NewsRadio hosts
 April Zesbaugh (L) and Marty Lenz (R)

In 2016, the Denver Press Club inducted me into the Hall of Fame for 35 years of political commentary, analyses and polling for Denver metro area, national and international media outlets. My involvement began at KOA in 1980 doing election night commentary with the legendary Bob Martin and has continued to the present with April Zesbaugh and Marty Lenz. Much of the media involvement was a product of Ciruli Associates, a consulting, research and media firm established in the mid-1980s. We especially become known for public opinion polling around elections and ballot issues. A few highlights:

• The first publicly reported polls were exit polls for KMGH Channel 7 in 1983 for Denver’s mayoral race and election night analysis. We also conducted exit polls for 9KUSA in Denver’s 1987 mayoral race, correctly calling the close election victories of Federico Peña in both races. Election night experience continued with the politically charged 1988 Adams County airport election, which involved on-air commentary and election analyses for 9KUSA with anchors Ed Sardella and Mike Landis. Throughout this 30-year history, I’ve worked with many political reporters, anchors and news directors, including 9KUSA’s longest serving news director, Patti Dennis.

• In the late 1980s, Ciruli Associates conducted election polling and campaign and election analysis for a consortium of Colorado media outlets: 9KUSA, Rocky Mountain News and KOA. In the mid-1990s, The Denver Post coverage replaced that of the Rocky Mountain News. Nate Silver’s 538 website cited me as among the country’s most accurate pollsters.
  

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  (L to R) Floyd Ciruli, Amb. Chris Hill, former 9News
  political reporter Brandon Rittiman and
  9News anchor Kyle Clark 

  From 1988 through the 2014 election of U.S. Senate and governor, we’ve provided election night coverage for major national and state elections, and also represented 9KUSA at several national conventions, beginning with the 1988 Democratic Convention in Atlanta and the 2012 presidential debate at the University of Denver.

• I have served as regular commentator for Colorado print and electronic media since the late 1980s and have been quoted in Colorado media thousands of times regarding political subjects and election analysis since the mid-1980s. Regular guest editorial columns on election results and political topics have been solicited by well-known editors Vince Carroll at the Rocky Mountain News, Sue O’Brien at The Denver Post and Neil Westergaard at the Denver Business Journal.

• In the early 2000s, Colorado became known nationally as a political swing state. I have commented on Colorado elections and their national implications with national print, television, radio and online media outlets, including FOX News, CBS, NBC, NPR, PBS The News Hour, Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times and The Economist, as well as on British and Australian national TV and on Al Jazeera.  

• In 2000, I started one of Colorado’s first political websites, “The Buzz,” and added a blog in 2008 for regular commentary on Colorado, national and international political topics, especially related to public opinion. The site is frequently referenced by local and national media outlets and is a useful database of political facts, polls and opinions.
  

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  Establishment of the Crossley Center in 2014

  In 2014, I established a graduate center, The Crossley Center for Public Opinion Research, on the University of Denver campus and taught courses in public opinion and foreign policy. The Crossley Center regularly offers programs for the campus and broader community on timely state, national and international political topics. Previously, I taught courses in media and public opinion at the University of Colorado-Denver’s School of Public Affairs, often with former editorial writer Bob Ewegan of The Denver Post. Additionally, I participated and presented at national and international survey research associations’ conferences in Nice, France; Lisbon, Portugal; and Buenos Aires, Argentina, on topics of media, politics, foreign policy and public opinion. 

A record crowd of more than 250 people attend Amb. Chris Hill and Floyd Ciruli
presentation after the surprise 2016 election to review the polling and
forecasting of the national and international fallout.

See:

KOA – Was There Disappointment in the Final Commission Map?

Hill and Ciruli: Countdown to the 2020 Election: What’s at Stake for the U.S. and the World?