Nearly a third of likely 2026 voters in Colorado have never heard of Attorney General Phil Weiser, according to a new poll, a statistic that underscores the Democratic gubernatorial candidate’s biggest — and so far unshakeable — challenge as the primary election fast approaches.
Of those polled last month, 31% said they’d never heard of Weiser, while 20% said they had no opinion of him. Of those who were familiar with the attorney general, 26% said they had a favorable view of him and 23% said they viewed him unfavorably.
By comparison, just 10% of likely 2026 voters said they’d never heard of Weiser’s primary opponent in the governor’s race, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet. Eleven percent said they had no opinion of Bennet, while 40% said they had a favorable view of him and 39% said they viewed the senator unfavorably.
The survey was conducted among 613 likely 2026 voters by New Bridge Strategy, a Republican pollster, and Aspect Strategic, a Democratic firm, from March 20 to March 25 on behalf of the nonpartisan Colorado Polling Institute. It had a 3.96 percentage point margin of error.
Broken down by party affiliation, 33% of unaffiliated voters and 27% of Democrats said they hadn’t heard of Weiser. By comparison, 6% of unaffiliated voters and 9% of Democrats said they’d never heard of Bennet.
DENVER, COLORADO — Feb. 21, 2026: U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet speaks at a Democratic gubernatorial forum with Attorney General Phil Weiser in Denver, Colorado, on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)Weiser’s familiarity numbers haven’t shifted much since November, which is the last time the Colorado Polling Institute asked voters about Bennet and Weiser. At that time, 33% said they had never heard of the attorney general.
In March 2025, 34% of likely 2026 voters said they’d never heard of Weiser.
When you factor in the three polls’ margins of error, Weiser’s familiarity among voters has stayed statistically stagnant. In other words: There hasn’t been enough variation to suggest things have improved for Weiser.
Voters’ unfamiliarity with Weiser has always been his greatest vulnerability in the governor’s race. Bennet, who was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 2009 and has won three statewide elections since, is simply much better known.
Weiser’s campaign, nevertheless, sees an upside in the numbers.
“This poll clearly shows Phil’s name ID is growing,” said Nate Jackson, a spokesperson for the Weiser campaign. “And as voters get to know more about his winning record against the Trump administration and big corporations that broke the law, they like him more. Phil is the only elected official in this poll whose favorability has grown — and that’s before he has spent a dime on TV ads.”
A bright spot in the poll for Weiser: Bennet’s favorability has fallen compared with previous Colorado Polling Institute surveys. A year ago, 45% of likely 2026 voters viewed the senator favorably compared with 41% who viewed him unfavorably.
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado, at an event in Denver where his 2026 gubernatorial campaign was endorsed by labor unions on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)The change in favorability in the latest Colorado Polling Institute poll is greater than the survey’s margin of error, meaning that statistics alone can’t explain the shift.
U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper and Gov. Jared Polis saw their numbers slide, too, in the poll.
Kevin Ingham, who leads Aspect Strategic, said their drop is the result of a state and national trend of Democratic voters turning on their party and their party’s elected leaders.
“For both senators, Democrats’ attitudes have shifted a net 20-ish points in a negative direction towards both,” Ingham said. “Over the past year, we’ve seen similar-sized shifts among unaffiliateds towards both.”
When it comes to Polis, 48% of those polled said they had an unfavorable view of him, while 44% had a favorable view of him. In March 2025, 40% had an unfavorable view of the governor, while 51% had a favorable view of him.
“A lot of what has changed is his support among the Democratic base,” Ingham said. “Those who describe themselves as very liberal or socialist, we’ve seen a 23-point drop in favorable views of Polis over the past 12 months. He was at 80% last March, and he’s only at 57% favorable among those ideological voters today.”
Gov. Jared Polis speaks to reporters before signing housing bills into law at the Colorado Capitol in Denver on Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)Love this story? Hear from the pollsters behind this survey at SunFest on May 1 at the University of Denver. They’ll be interviewed live by Colorado Sun politics reporter and editor Jesse Paul.Find details and get tickets here.
Some other highlights from the poll:
More voters know of Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, but as they’ve gotten more familiar with her, they’re more divided in their views of her, according to the poll. Twenty-nine percent of those polled said they viewed her favorably, while 33% viewed her unfavorably. “Griswold’s image among Democrats hasn’t actually moved that much, but unaffiliated have become more skeptical,” Ingham said. Griswold is one of four Democrats running to be the state’s next attorney general. 62% of those polled said they had a favorable view of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, while 22% said they viewed the 1992 constitutional amendment unfavorably. Even a plurality of Democrats backed TABOR. However, voters increasingly view the state budget as in crisis. 37% of likely 2026 voters in Colorado had an unfavorable view of President Donald Trump, while 61% said they viewed him favorably. “This is the first time that we’ve seen his numbers softening among Republicans,” Ingham said. “A year ago, in March of ’25, 87% of Republicans were positive towards Trump, and only 11% were negative. Today, 79% of Republicans are positive towards the president, but 19% of voters within his own party view him negatively. We’ve also seen a 15-point drop in the number of Republicans that told us that they have very favorable opinions of Trump over the past year.” More than 80% of those polled said they were concerned about each of the following: political divisions within the country, low Colorado snowfall this winter, the risk of wildfires in Colorado and social media’s effect on kids 51% of those polled said local law enforcement should be allowed to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement authorities, while 36% said they should not be allowed. Those numbers haven’t changed since the Colorado Polling Institute last asked it of voters in November. But 67% said in the recent survey that they were concerned about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detaining people who should not be detained, while 33% said they were not concerned.See the full results of the poll here.
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