How Will Unemployment Affect the Vote in 2012 … Real Unemployment Reaches 20% In 7 Colorado Counties

COLORADO, ARE YOU BETTER OFF TODAY THAN YOU WERE FOUR YEARS AGO. OBAMANOMICS HAS FAILED COLORADO …

As reported at the Colorado Observer, Colorado’s official unemployment rate is 8.2%; however, the “real unemployment” rate has reached 20% in seven Colorado counties. Making matters worse, it is the first time in y years that the official Colorado rate surpassed the national unemployment rate. The counties with such massive real unemployment are Costilla County at 23.56%, Pueblo 20.09%, Montrose 20.62%, Fremont 19.66%, Huerfano 21.78%, Archuleta 19.97% and Dolores at 19.85%.

In seven counties in Colorado unemployed individuals are close to or exceeding 20% of the population, a letter from the Chief Economist of CDLE to the U.S. Department of Agriculture says.

The letter, obtained through the Colorado Open Records Act, was sent August 29 as required by federal law. According to the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, the Colorado Labor Department is required to certify counties where the “Not Employed Rate” surpasses 19.5%.

The “Not Employed Rate” is defined as “the percentage of individuals over the age of 18 who reside within the community and who are ready, willing and able to be employed but are unable to find employment as determined by the State Department of Labor.”

Ranking highest was Costilla County at 23.56 percent. The list runs from larger counties like Pueblo (20.09%), Montrose (20.62%) and Fremont (19.66%) to smaller populations like Huerfano (21.78%), Archuleta (19.97%) and Dolores (19.85%).

The unemployment rate in Colorado in 2008 was 4.8%. Barack Obama won Colorado in the 2008 Presidential election 54% to 45%.

With such real unemployment affecting those in Colorado, one really has to speculate as to how this will affect voting in the 2012 Presidential election as Colorado is considered a battle ground state. Currently RCP has Obama ahead in the averaging of polls; however, Rasmussen has Romney up by 2%. It’s hard to imagine that individuals would vote for an incumbent President whose economic policies have failed a state so badly.