Public Policy Polling: Gary Johnson a spoiler for Obama in Colorado?

I've been arguing for a long time that Gary Johnson support cuts both ways--that he will take votes from BOTH Obama and Romney depending on the territory--although I've primarily focused my attention on his potential to deprive Obama of a win in North Carolina in the "hurt the Democrat" category.

Now it begins to look like Gary Johnson is putting Colorado in play, says Public Policy Polling.

Granted, Mitt Romney's post-convention bounce seems to have taken him from a 49-43 Obama to 49-46 Obama--a GOP gain of three points.

But when the Libertarian is added to the mix, look what happens:

We also tested an iteration of the race in Colorado including Libertarian Gary Johnson. He pulls 5% and takes slightly more from Obama than Romney, pushing Obama's lead down to 46-44 when he's in the picture.

Ooops. Ah shit. So much for the conventional wisdom that Libertarians are just Republicans who smoke pot.

Comments

Eric Dondero said…

Steve, be real, real careful with PPP. They are far leftwing. And agenda driven. They never release a poll without a political reason behind it.

Not sure what their angle is here, but it's most certainly aimed at hitting Romney.

September 3, 2012 at 10:50 PM

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