What a difference four years can make.
In 2020, Joe Biden’s route to the White House included a cruise control victory of 13.5 percentage points in Colorado over President Donald Trump.
Although Biden still has a firm grasp on the state, an Emerson College poll released Friday and conducted from Jan. 23-28 finds Biden’s projected margin of victory has shrunk to 6% in the Centennial State.
Colorado holds 10 Electoral College votes and 270 are needed to win the Presidency.
In the Emerson College poll, which included polling of four states in the presumed general election field of Trump vs. Biden, 76% would vote for one of the two candidates, 13% choosing “someone else” and 11% remaining undecided.
“Both Biden and Trump are experiencing lower levels of support compared to 2020, with a higher degree of uncertainty among voters,” said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College polling. “Despite this, Trump appears to be gaining an advantage from the overall underperformance of both candidates and lower enthusiasm levels.”
Also polled were Missouri, Ohio and South Dakota.
In Colorado, Biden holds a 14% lead over Trump among women, with 30% either undecided or supporting someone other than Biden or Trump. Men support Trump with a 2% lead over Biden, and with 18% either undecided or supporting someone else.
Age does not prove to be a factor in Colorado, with Biden holding an identical 6% lead over Trump for those voters polled under the age of 30. Thirty-six percent of voters polled under age 30 were either undecided or planning to support someone other than Biden or Trump.
The poll measured Biden to have a 5% lead over Trump among independent voters in Colorado, with 35% of voters polled either undecided or planning to support someone other than Biden or Trump.
The poll found that 40% of voters in Colorado believe Trump should appear on the ballot. Comparable to the overall margin, 46% of voters polled believe the courts should decide the matter.
The poll has a 2.2% margin of error with the Colorado sample, consisting of 1,856 registered voters. The margin of error would theoretically put Trump within 3.8% of Biden in the state, but also give Biden as much as an 8.2% lead.
Trump polled with a 17% lead over Biden in Missouri, an 11% lead over Biden in Ohio, and favored in South Dakota by 29%.
In December, a poll by the University of Colorado had Biden with a 7% lead over Trump. The poll of 800 adults had a higher margin of error of 4.2%.