Voters in Minnesota voted for rising gas prices and grocery costs, as well as abortion rights and violent crime.
Both crime and inflation were top concerns for voters of both political parties. However, they were less important to Republican Party members. Abortion was an issue mostly for Democratic-supporting voters. This is in line with the campaign themes of both parties, as they vie for eight congressional seats, 201 state House and Senate seats, and four statewide political offices.
A poll of 1,585 Minnesotans was conducted Oct. 10-14. It asked for three things: The first two questions asked respondents to describe in a few words the most pressing issues facing Minnesota, and the most important issue facing their city or town. The second question asked them to list 12 issues, and then they were asked to select four issues that they felt were important.
The pollsters were able to group similar answers into the same categories, despite there being 1,585 open-ended questions about Minnesota. 20% of respondents mentioned crime as a concern for the state. Following that, 13% of respondents mentioned inflation, 11% abortion, 10% economy, jobs, 10% taxes, 8% democracy and voting and 5% each for health care and climate. 5% housing was also mentioned.
The top three issues were crime, 18%, and housing and taxes at 10%. After those three issues, 9% cited inflation, 8% education, 7% economy and jobs, 4% policing and 3% race/racism/diversity.
The campaign’s dominant issue was the cost of goods, which was the first of 12 issues. It was a concern that 61% of respondents cited as their fourth most important issue. This concern is almost identical across all age groups, genders, and between white and black respondents.
However, there is a partisan divide. However, there is a partisan difference. Among the people who voted for Trump in 2020 they named inflation as their top issue, while 43% of Biden voters did.
Embold Research pollster Ben Greenfield wrote that inflation was, by a large margin, the most important issue on voters’ minds. He said that the font-weight of 400 ;”>” Inflation is similar to what we see virtually everywhere in the country.” “Among (DFL Gov. Tim Walz voters believe that abortion is the most important issue. This is followed by political extremism and insurrection, as well as climate change and inflation.
“Inflation is the most important issue for Scott (GOP nominee) Jensen voters,” Greenfield wrote.
Inflation has a different partisan distribution to abortion. Although 43% cited Roe v. Wade’s overturning as a priority issue in the poll, crosstabs from the poll show that it was not mentioned by Trump voters. It was cited by 76% of Biden voters, while 6% of Trump voters chose it.
Roe V. Wade was the second most cited issue by women poll respondents.
Another issue that divided voters was the choice of partisans. Sixty-six percent of Trump voters cited crime as a priority, while 26% of Biden voters agreed. While 70% of Trump voters mentioned illegal immigrants, only 5% of Biden voters agreed.
Two other questions are also influenced by the Biden-Trump election aftermath. The poll cited 12 issues, including “Attacks of political extremists or insurrectionists”. Among Biden voters, 53% cited it; 4% of Trump voters did so.
Participants were also asked to choose which candidate received the most votes in 2020. Overall, 64% of respondents said that Biden got more votes than Trump. 36% responded that Trump received more votes. Nearly all Biden voters felt that the Democratic president received more votes, 97 percent. However, only 22 percent of Trump voters believed that he received fewer national votes.
Biden got 81,268,867 votesspan styling=”font-weight 400 ;”>; Trump got 74,216.747 votes. Biden received 306 votes and Trump received 232. It was the formal, and often ceremonial, opening of each state’s Electoral College vote. This was interrupted by the storming at the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, 2021.
Minnesota’s 10 Electoral College Votes – equal to the number U.S. House Members and Senators – went to Biden who won state vote 1,717.077 to 1,484,065.
There were many responses to the open-ended questions. A suburban white woman of middle age stated that she was between 18-34 years old and listed reproductive rights as the most pressing issue facing the state. She wrote that elected officials are more concerned about reelection than their constituents span>
A white woman between 50 and 64 years old in rural Minnesota said that there were “too many handouts to illegal aliens, immigrants and the working middle class.”
A 65-plus woman from the suburbs listed guns and “lackof good restaurants” as her biggest issues.
Also, partisan divisions were mentioned. Partisan divisions were also mentioned by a white 35- to 49-year-old woman from Twin Cities who listed “Republicans” as well as “income equality”; a white woman over 65 from rural Minnesota said that “liberal policies have destroyed our state” and “gas prices span>
Methodology note
The poll was taken between Oct. 10 and Oct. 14. It included 1,585 likely voters in general elections. The poll was conducted in collaboration with Embold Research, a nonpartisan arm of Change Research. Respondents are recruited via targeted ads on social media and websites. FiveThirtyEight rates Change Research as a B- Pollster.
Embold Research employs a “modeled” margin to error. This allows for the effects of weighting or making adjustments to better reflect state demographics. The results were weighted based on gender, age, race/ethnicity and region as well as the 2020 presidential vote.
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