The vast majority of unaffiliated voters in Colorado say they intentionally registered that way, according to findings from a new poll, eroding the assumption that the growing share of unaffiliated voters in the state in recent years has been caused by automatic voter registration.
Under a 2019 law, people are automatically registered to vote when they have an interaction with the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles. They’re registered as unaffiliated unless and until they affiliate with a party.
Hundreds of thousands of Coloradans have been registered to vote through automatic voter registration, and during that time the share of unaffiliated voters in the state has steadily increased. As of Dec. 1, unaffiliated voters made up half of active, registered voters statewide. Unaffiliated voters also made up the largest share of the electorate in each of the state’s eight congressional districts.
But a poll of 1,210 active, registered Colorado voters last month found that 86% of those who said they were unaffiliated voters said they intentionally chose to register that way, while 5% said they were automatically registered as unaffiliated and 9% said they weren’t sure or didn’t know if being unaffiliated was intentional or not.
“That’s true both of younger independents and older independents,” said Spencer Keating of Keating Research, the Democratic pollster in Colorado that conducted the survey. “They believe they’re deliberately registering this way, not just passively ending up as independents.”
The poll was conducted from Nov. 10-17 on behalf of Let Colorado Vote, a nonprofit founded in 2016 by Kent Thiry, the wealthy former CEO of the Denver-based dialysis giant DaVita. Thiry is one year removed from his failed effort to overhaul Colorado’s election system through Proposition 131, which would have changed the state’s primaries so that candidates from all parties ran against each other with the top four vote-getters advancing to a ranked choice voting general election.
Let Colorado Vote’s original purpose was to pass ballot measures creating presidential primaries in Colorado, abandoning the caucus system, and letting unaffiliated voters cast ballots in primaries. The group also helped change the redistricting process in Colorado, which it did through Amendments Y and Z in 2018.
Now, Let Colorado Vote works on voter engagement and participation, with an emphasis on getting more unaffiliated voters involved in politics and tamping down political extremes.
The poll had a 2.8 percentage point margin of error, with a 4 percentage point margin of error among unaffiliated participants and a 3.2 percentage point margin of error among participants who said they were likely to vote in 2026.
About half of the participating voters who said they were unaffiliated reported being affiliated with a party before – 25% as Democrats, 21% as Republicans and 4% with another party.
Those who became unaffiliated said the main reason they did so was because of policy disagreements, dissatisfaction with their party’s direction or their values no longer aligning with that party’s platform – in that order.
Unaffiliated voters who reported never being affiliated said they did so primarily because of dislike or distrust of the major parties or because they wanted to vote based on candidates or issues or have a desire for independence.
“Or they dislike the two-party system and the polarization that comes with it,” Keating said.
But while voters say they’re intentionally registering as unaffiliated, the poll also showed they have a clear preference for Democrats – which matches election results in Colorado over the past decade.
Forty-four percent of unaffiliated voters said they would vote for the Democratic candidate for Congress if an election were held today, compared with 38% who said they would vote for the Republican candidate. Seven percent said they would vote for another candidate, while 11% said they didn’t know whom they would vote for or were undecided.
Additionally, 35% of unaffiliated voters said they typically vote for Democratic candidates in Colorado elections, while 26% said they typically vote for Republican candidates. Thirty-five percent said they sometimes voted for Democrats and sometimes voted for Republicans, while 4% said they didn’t know or weren’t sure how they typically voted.
Unaffiliated voters also overwhelmingly reported having an unfavorable opinion of President Donald Trump – 62% unfavorable to 37% favorable. That’s compared with Trump’s favorability among all Colorado registered voters, which the poll found to be 60% unfavorable and 40% favorable.
Unaffiliated voters said they trusted Democrats most on issues like the environment, health care, democracy, education and the cost of living, while they trusted Republicans most on immigration and crime.
The poll found that unaffiliated voters’ biggest issues are housing affordability and the cost of living, followed by taxes and government spending. Political leadership and polarization ranked third.
The poll results also emphasized how unaffiliated voters in different parts of Colorado tend to vote for the major party that has the greatest numbers in their area.
In Denver and Boulder, 38% of unaffiliated voters said they typically vote in the Democratic primary, compared with 21% who said they typically vote in the Republican primary. In El Paso, Larimer, Pueblo and Larimer counties, 28% of unaffiliated voters said they typically vote in the Democratic primary compared with 33% who said they typically vote in the Republican primary.
The poll also provided more evidence that any effort to unwind or change Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights will face an uphill battle.
Voters were read two statements about TABOR and asked which came closer to their view.
Sixty-one percent of those polled said they agree that “Colorado should keep its TABOR law because it’s an essential protection that keeps government spending in check and gives voters the final say on any tax increases.” Twenty-six percent said they agreed that “Colorado should remove its TABOR law because it prevents the state from adequately funding schools, roads and health care.”
Unaffiliated and Republican voters who participated in the poll overwhelmingly expressed support for TABOR, while Democrats were split. Forty-one percent of Democrats agreed with the pro-TABOR message, while 44% said they opposed the 1992 constitutional amendment and 13% said they didn’t know or weren’t sure about it.
