Tom Tancredo Catches Pro-Abortion John Hickenlooper in New Colorado Poll
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 15, 2010
Denver, CO (LifeNews.com) — Tom Tancredo is pushing up the numbers in his race to become the primary alternative to pro-abortion gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in Colorado finds Tancredo has made up most of the ground he needed to be competitive.
The survey finds Hickenlooper with 42% support, while Tancredo, a pro-life former congressman running on a third party bid, earns 38% of the vote.
Support for Republican Dan Maes continues to fall and now stands at 12% while 2% prefer some other candidate, and six percent are undecided.
"Is independent Tom Tancredo now becoming the de facto Republican candidate for governor of Colorado? He’s now moved to within four points of Democrat John Hickenlooper to turn the race into a toss-up," says pollster Scott Rasmussen.
With the Dan Maes campaign turning into a joke for most political observers — he’s faced campaign finance violations and accusations that he misled voters about his career in law enforcement — Tancredo has become the main candidate for those Republicans, independents and conservative and moderate Democrats looking for someone other than the Denver mayor to become governor.
For pro-life advocates, his running mate Pat Miller, a former state legislator and the head of Citizens for Responsible Government, tells LifeNews.com that Tancredo is the best option — especially since Hickenlooper has the endorsement of the NARAL pro-abortion group.
"Tom’s a solid pro-life candidate and if he wasn’t, I wouldn’t have accepted his request to be his running mate," she said. "Any pro-life bill that gets to Tom’s desk when he’s Governor will be signed into law."
"We believe that a government that will not protect life from conception to natural death, will not protect any other right we have," Miller, a member of the board of directors of the statewide pro-life group Colorado Citizens for Life, added.
Looking back at the new polling data from Rasmussen, less than two weeks ago Tancredo earned 35% of the vote to Hickenlooper’s 43% and Maes’ 16%. That shifted the race from Solid Democrat to Leans Democrat in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Gubernatorial Scorecard. Now the race moves to a Toss-Up.
Tancredo only entered the race after Maes won the state Republican primary. He argued that Maes, who has been abandoned by many of the state’s high-level Republicans, could not win the general election contest.
"Tancredo’s support has risen from 14% in late August, while Maes’ support has dropped from a high of 31% just after his primary win earlier that month. In that same period, Hickenlooper’s support has generally held steady in the low to mid 40s," Rasmussen said.
That could be an indication that Hickenlooper has plateaued while Tancredo could siphon off more support from Maes and inch his way towards a plurality victory.
Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
Daily Pro-Life News Report Twice-Weekly Pro-Life
News Report Receive a free daily email report from LifeNews.com with the latest pro-life news stories on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here. Receive a free twice-weekly email report with the latest pro-life news headlines on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here.
