The shine is coming off Governor Gasslight, and not because Coloradans suddenly got confused.
Colorado Politics reports that Jared Polis’s favorability has fallen to 44%, down seven points from last March, while nearly half of respondents now view him negatively. The bigger warning sign is inside his own party. His favorability among Democrats dropped from 84% to 72%, and among Democrats who identify as liberal or socialist, his approval fell 23 points in a year. That is not just a wobble. That is the sound of the coalition noticing the salesman’s brochure does not match the house.
And the reason is sitting right there in the same poll, blinking like a check-engine light. More than 90% of respondents say housing, health care, home insurance, and car insurance are serious problems in Colorado. Eighty-nine percent are worried about gas prices. Only 18% describe their family as comfortable and increasing savings. Everyone else is treading water or afraid they are about to sink. So when Polis keeps selling himself as the sleek, post-partisan genius who made Colorado more affordable, people are beginning to notice that their actual lives look less like a success story and more like a monthly mugging.
That is the Jared Polis racket in one sentence: permanent branding, minimal accountability. He talks like a disruption wizard from a TED Talk in loafers, while ordinary people get disrupted straight into higher premiums, higher housing costs, higher bills, and a state budget that looks like it got drunk and wandered into traffic. Then, when voters are unhappy, the spin machine always arrives with the same perfume cloud: growth, innovation, opportunity, bold leadership. Wonderful. Now show us the grocery receipt.
Even the split on whether the state is heading in the right direction tells the story. Wealthier Coloradans are more likely to think things are going well. Imagine that. The people most insulated from the damage are still enjoying the vibes. Meanwhile, the suburban normie, the young family, the working stiff, and the middle-class homeowner keep getting told that the economy is strong while every fixed cost in their life starts behaving like a cartel.
This is why the Democratic slippage matters. It suggests the problem is no longer just Republican criticism or conservative frustration. Even people inclined to like Polis are running into the same hard wall: you cannot message your way out of affordability collapse forever. At some point, the “actually, things are better than you think” routine starts to sound less like leadership and more like gaslighting with a state seal on it.
November will test whether Colorado voters want more branding or an actual course correction. Polis spent seven years selling the state as a polished success. More and more people seem to be checking the price tag and calling bullshit.
Source: Colorado Politics
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