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Scott sent in this piece with some ugly numbers about Democratic favorability in my new (rarely visited but official) home in Colorado. Basically, Democrats’ favorability ratings are low.
The piece pegs a lot of this on cost of living, which is unsurprising for anyone living in Colorado.
The statistics are stark. Homelessness among families with children in Colorado surged by an astonishing 134% in 2024, one of the largest increases in the nation. This doesn’t even account for the hidden homelessness of families doubled up with relatives or couch surfing.
For those with a roof over their heads, the burden is immense. The state faces a shortfall of over 162,000 affordable rental units, and a majority of renters are now considered cost-burdened, paying more than 30% of their income on housing. The cumulative effect is a pervasive sense of anxiety, with 78% of Coloradans reporting that the cost of living causes “serious” or “some” stress on their families.
Related to the affordable housing issue, there was a story in the WSJ [gift link] about a new trend in Atlanta were renters are conning their way into “luxury” apartments by lying on their rental applications. Average rent for these luxury apartments there is $2000/month for a 2 bedroom. That’s what people pay for a 1 bedroom “luxury” apartment in the Denver area. The graph below is for the Atlanta area but I’d bet money that Denver’s graph is similar:
Democrats are directly responsible for this in Atlanta and in Denver — they run the place and they use the excuse of “more housing” to let developers fast track and completely overbuild luxury apartment complexes. Democrats can claim that housing is being built, but it comes off as being completely out of touch.
There’s not a lot that state or local government can do about expensive groceries, but there’s certainly a lot that can be done to make sure developers build more than just luxury apartments. It’s obvious this hasn’t happened, and it’s one of the reasons that Democrats aren’t very popular, even in states that regularly elect them.
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