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Colorado focus group voices concerns about dynasties, interest in Elizabeth Warren

Pollster Peter Hart conducted a focus group with a dozen voters — Democrats, Republicans, and independents — in Aurora, Colo., on Jan. 8 for the Annenberg Public Policy Center.  Hart, director of APPC’s “Voices of the Voters,” convened the group just as a new, Republican-controlled Congress takes office and as candidates start emerging for the 2016 election. Hart has been conducting focus groups with voters for APPC as part of an ongoing examination of the views of the electorate since 2004.

“With a Democratic president and a Republican Congress, I’m afraid there is going to be more of a stalemate than anything else,” said one voter. Among other things, the Colorado voters expressed weariness with political dynasties, raising concerns about the prospective candidacies of Jeb Bush and Hilary Clinton, though the name of Sen. Elizabeth Warren “struck a chord,” in the words of Washington Post correspondent Dan Balz.

PBS NewsHour reported on the session on Monday, Jan. 12.

News coverage of the focus group included: