Nearly 80% of Colorado Latinos are “motivated” to vote in the 2020 election, but less than half are “excited” to mail in their ballot next fall, according to a new survey of Latinos in 11 key states released Wednesday.

That’s one of several takeaways from a new and ambitious multistate research project by Equis Labs, a political consulting firm that focuses on the Latino community, and their partners Equis Research. Together with a cadre of pollsters, the groups in July surveyed more than 8,000 members of the community, including 700 in Colorado.

The aim of the project, which will be ongoing, is to better understand the nuances of the 32 million eligible Latino voters in the United States and how to engage with them. The 2020 election will mark the first time Latinos make up the largest non-white voting bloc.

“There’s a real urgency to understand the Latinx electorate,” Stephanie Valencia, Equis Labs’ co-founder, told reporters on a conference call Wednesday. “We will be the X-factor in society in 2020 and beyond. Yet there is a misunderstanding of who this electorate is. Progressives cannot win without maximizing Latinx turnout and support.”

Last fall I wrote about a noticeable increase in efforts to engage Latino voters in the midterm election. There’s no doubt that Democrats and Republicans alike are going to double down on their efforts to sway the growing voting bloc in the 2020 election and beyond. Republicans — if they have any hope of winning in Colorado — especially must rethink their outreach to Latinos.

Progressives have their work cut out for them, too. Valencia said that Democrats and their allies must work to close the gap between voters who are merely motivated to vote and those who are excited. Otherwise, many of them could sit out.

Progressives, she said, can’t rely on anti-Trump sentiment alone. Efforts must be made — especially in connecting with younger Latino populations.

Here are a few other data points about Colorado Latinos:

U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner is in big trouble with Latinos. Only 23% of those surveyed said they would re-elect him, while 68% say they’d vote for a generic Democrat.

There’s a big gender gap in Donald Trump’s approval rating. Thirty percent of Latino men in Colorado approve of Trump, while just 19% of Latinas do. Here’s the kicker: The 11-point gap is one of the smallest in the 11 states surveyed. The largest is in Nevada, where 45 percent of Latino men approve of Trump and 20 percent of Latinas do.

Colorado Latinos — like those in other states — overwhelmingly support abortion rights.

There is a strong desire for a pathway to citizenship for immigrants in the county illegally.

Colorado Latinos really don’t like Trump compared to their neighbors. Latinos across all demographics — age, education, gender, religion — disapprove of Trump by wider margins than in states such as New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona.

Only one in three Latinos give Trump a thumbs up for his job on the economy, which is where Trump has some of his highest overall numbers in other polls.

The bilingual surveys were conducted over the phone — via landline and cell phones — as well as online. The margin of error on most questions is 3.7%. Where the population was segmented into smaller groups, the margin jumps to 5.2%.

I’m Nic Garcia, a political reporter at The Post. To receive the rest of The Spot, the free weekly political newsletter of The Denver Post, sign up here. Keep the conversation going by joining our Facebook group today!