If Colorado lawmakers as a whole had a relationship status on social media, it would read: It’s complicated.

For years, we’ve been told our economy is strong. Headlines keep insisting we’re thriving. But when you listen to actual Coloradans, the economy sounds strangely fragile.

Take for instance, The Pulse Poll – an annual survey conducted by the Colorado Health Foundation. This poll isn’t some academic exercise. It’s a mirror held up to real Coloradans, from mountain towns to Front Range suburbs.

Nearly nine out of ten Coloradans say the rising cost of living is a very or extremely severe problem. Housing affordability has joined it at the very top.

According to the poll, seven in ten Coloradans worry they won’t be able to afford to live in this state long-term. Ninety percent of parents worry they and their children won’t be able to afford to stay here at all.

In 2025, respondents were asked, in their own words, what they see as the most critical issues facing the state. Nearly a third volunteered government and politics as their top concern-ranking it above cost of living and housing.

This should stop lawmakers in their tracks. Taken together, these indicators tell us something: people aren’t just struggling with rising costs – they don’t trust that those in power will fix it.

The data gets even more sobering. More than half of those who responded reported experiencing anxiety, depression, loneliness, or chronic stress in the past year. When asked why, 32% of them pointed to political issues, and 29% cited financial strain.

These aren’t abstract percentages. These are real households postponing medical care, cutting back on food, and quietly wondering how long they can hold on.

This is where governance and relationships intersect. When working people feel abandoned by the process, they don’t just change how they vote – they disengage emotionally.

They ask questions that sound like those asked in a failing work or personal relationship: Do you see us? Do you hear us? Are lawmakers invested in us – or just their donors?

It’s important to say this clearly: this isn’t a partisan gripe. The Pulse Poll is bipartisan, and their data shows that skyrocketing costs cut across ideology, geography, and income level.

This is not about left or right. It’s about whether people feel secure enough to build a life here in our state.

This could be why more people are leaving Colorado than entering it.

Colorado has leaned blue for a long time, especially in statewide races. But loyalty has limits. Relationships are absolutely conditional.

When financial pressure becomes chronic and trust remains broken, voters don’t always move ideologically – they move emotionally. They vote against what feels dismissive, slow, or disconnected.

Look at the White House for an example. In Colorado, if Democrats continue to control most levers of state government while cost-of-living pressures remain unrelieved, the political consequences are predictable.

The warning signs are already there: rising unaffiliated voter registration, tighter margins, and growing openness to candidates who promise disruption rather than continuity. When people feel unheard, they stop rewarding incumbency.

Colorado needs leadership that treats affordability as a quality-of-life emergency. From a business perspective, this means faster housing approvals, fewer regulatory choke points, and policies that lower costs instead of layering complexity.

From the individual perspective that means affordable housing (not subsidized by government) with reasonable market rates. It also means policies that can be seen benefiting the populace.

Most of all, it means rebuilding trust; by listening, by adjusting, and by admitting when something isn’t working. Healthy relationships require responsiveness to issues.

Lawmakers must take accountability. And course correct. If those don’t show up soon, your former voters will get them – at the ballot box.

Because when the cost of living keeps rising and trust keeps falling, change becomes less a choice and more an inevitability. And Colorado is closer to that moment than many at the Capitol seem willing to admit.

If we keep going in this direction and Colorado lawmakers have a relationship status in the next mid-terms, it will read: Single/Divorced. Colorado voters will drop you to try to save themselves.

Rachel Stovall is an event manager, entertainer and community advocate.