Poll: Boulder voters love RCV
Voters in Boulder, Colorado used ranked choice voting (RCV) for the first time this month, after a 2020 ballot measure passed with 78% support.
A new exit poll by Citizen Data, conducted on behalf of the RCV for Colorado Education Fund, shows that voters liked RCV, found it simple, and want to expand its use in Colorado.
Post on X from Ranked Choice Voting for Colorado
Key findings include:
- 77% of respondents were satisfied with their voting experience, compared to 11% who were dissatisfied.
- 86% said it was easy to fill out their ballot, compared to 6% who found it hard.
- Voters are interested in expanding ranked choice voting. 45% want to expand it to more elections, while 9% want to keep it for Boulder mayoral elections only. 27% would rather not use it, and 19% are not sure.
Voters across all polled demographic groups support RCV.
This poll adds to a growing body of evidence that voters like using RCV, and typically want to expand it. Just this month, voters in Easthampton, MA, expanded RCV to apply to multi-winner city council elections, after having used single-winner RCV since 2021. Similarly, voters in Minnetonka, MN, preserved RCV in the face of a repeal attempt, with even more voters expressing support for RCV than when they initially passed it. Everywhere RCV is used, voters like it.
Poll Methodology
Citizen Data conducted a representative survey of 600 registered voters in Boulder, CO who voted in the 2023 mayoral election from November 5 – November 8, 2023 using a combination of P2P text-to-web (N=428) and IVR (N=172) in the recruitment strategy. The margin of error is 4.0 percentage points.
