Credit: MinnPost photo by Bill Kelley
The top election issues for Minnesotans partly differ from region to region and are closely tied to party identification in those areas, according to the latest MinnPost/Embold Research poll.
A higher number of Greater Minnesotans than people in the Twin Cities listed the rising costs of goods, illegal immigration and the amount of taxes paid as top priorities while those in the Twin Cities echoed concerns over rising costs but also had abortion rights top of mind.
Meanwhile, GOP Presidential candidate Donald Trump has strong favorability ratings among Republicans in Greater Minnesota while Kamala Harris gets nearly equal support from Democrats in the Twin Cities.
Top issues
Many voters in Greater Minnesota (67%) named the rising costs of goods like groceries and gas as a concern, followed by illegal immigration (53%) and taxes (45%).
In the Twin Cities, the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and some state governments’ banning of abortion was a top concern (56%), followed closely by concerns over the rising costs of goods (54%). The cost of housing and gun violence were tied at 48% as the next top concerns.
“If you look at the rising cost of goods like groceries and gas … everybody’s concerned about that — worried about stretching their dollars,” said David Schultz, a professor of political science and legal studies at Hamline University. “But when you get to the social issues, that’s really where the big differences start to kick in.”
When looking at social issues by party and region, Democrats in Greater Minnesota have the same top issues as Democrats in the Twin Cities, putting rising costs and abortion rights as top concerns, while Republicans in Greater Minnesota and the Twin Cities alike say illegal immigration and taxes are top concerns.
“That clearly shows a partisan divide across a large range of issues, but interplays with geography in the sense that we might see some more modulation among, let’s say, especially Republicans in the Twin Cities or the metro area,” Schultz said.
The issues important to people in the Twin Cities, the suburbs and Greater Minnesota, however, stayed consistent with a poll conducted by MinnPost in November. The latest poll, conducted in early September, surveyed 1,616 likely 2024 voters in Minnesota and has a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points.
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