A new poll conducted by Minnesota Public Radio News and the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute shows Democrat Mark Dayton and Republican Tom Emmer tied in the Minnesota governor's race.
Among the 750 likely Minnesota voters interviewed by telephone, Dayton and Emmer are even with 34% support. Independent Party candidate Tom Horner received 13% support. About one fifth (19%) of those polled are undecided or did not indicate a preference for any candidate. For more details see MPR News-Humphrey Institute Poll: Dayton, Emmer deadlocked.
According to Larry Jacobs, University of Minnesota political science professor who oversaw the survey, the 2010 Minnesota governor's race is up for grabs by any one of the three candidates.
Jacobs goes on to say that the results show that both Dayton and Emmer are having trouble getting support from members of their own parties. One third of poll respondents identifying themselves as either Democrat or Republican do not support their party's candidate. Jacobs comments,
"Usually you'll see maybe 20 or 25 percent of Democrats defect, particularly early on in a campaign. But it's very rare to see so many Republicans not rallying around their party's standard bearer."
The blogs MN Progressive Project and MNpubius both say the results of the MPR-Humphrey poll are due in large part to "a rather questionable methodology", including an 8% oversampling of Republicans.
In his blog article, GPI update, another weird Humphrey poll, Tony Angelo represents an ongoing composite index of several recent MN governor's race polls. After including the MPR-Humphrey results, Angelo's composite index shows Dayton (41.25) with almost an eight-point lead over Emmer (33.32) while Horner comes in with 11.15 points.
While the race for governor may not be deadlocked, the likelihood of a tightening race raises the chilling image of Tom Emmer in the Governor's office.
What might Minnesota's future look like under Tom Emmer? The possibilities include: a lower minimum wage; increased over-crowding of schools; more uninsured Minnesotans; seriously deficient pollution control and public safety regulation; further deterioration of infrastructure.
But not to worry. A Minnesota that has been made safe, stable, and predictable for corporations, factory farms, and the wealthiest Minnesotans will bring a brighter future for some of us. For more Explore Tom Emmer's Minnesota.
Comments