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Polling In Minnesota Shows Close Races For All Constitutional Offices [1]
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Date: 2022-09-18
The Minneapolis Star Tribune, along with Minnesota Public Radio and the local NBC affiliate, KARE 11, recently released data that shows all four of the constitutional offices in the state — governor, attorney general, auditor, and secretary of state — with close races. For a couple of them, the number of undecideds is shockingly high. All four offices are held by Democrats (known locally as DFL-ers).
GOVERNOR
Incumbent Tim Walz, first elected in 2018, comes in at 48-41%, with 10% undecided. Walz has generally received high marks for his stewardship of the state during the pandemic, and we are showing great economic strength with an historically low unemployment rate.
His opponent, State Senator Scott Jensen, went from being a marginally reasonable guy in the legislature, to full on Trumper, though in recent days he has been trying to walk back former pronouncements on a variety of topics, most especially the choice issue.
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Incumbent Keith Ellison, also elected in 2018, is in quite a close race against political newcomer Jim Schultz. Ellison challenge is, and I’ll be incredibly frank on this as someone who lives in rural MN, how to overcome his standing as the only statewide African-American officer holder, and is a practicing Muslim. His office has kept up with their good fight for consumer protection, and also has stepped up their working with local prosecutors to assist in criminal cases.
All of that may be for naught as he is, unfairly in my estimation, being tagged with the responsibility for the increased crime rates, and both he and Gov Walz are having the 2020 Minneapolis riots being used against them.
The poll shows the race at Ellioson-46%, Shultz-45%, Undecided, 9%.
AUDITOR
Who even knows what an Auditor does? That’s the problem incumbent Julie Blaha has to deal with often. Her office handles the incredibly flashy task of for example, making sure governmental entities handle taxpayer funds correctly. She has made her races about competence, steadiness, and her near obsession with bean counting to show she is more than capable of doing the job. And she is.
A separate poll showed Blaha leading her opponent, Ryan Wilson, 38-37, with over 20%(!) undecided.
SECRETARY OF STATE
Incumbent Steve Simon, has done an amazing job against the blizzard of bullshit stemming from the 2020 election. Sometimes I’m shocked he does not bring a shovel to his press conferences.
That said, he is also in a close race against Kim Crockett, who is not just on The Big Lie train, she’s conducting it at breakneck speed.
That the race is at Simon 48%, Crockett 40%, and Undecided 12% is kinda mind blowing. This gender, racial, and geographic breakdown of this race — like pretty much all the others polled here, is also unsurprising. And makes me shake my damn head, as in wtf is wrong with my fellow Gen-X white males?
The poll also asked about topics like recreational marijuana use, sports betting, and if folks had confidence that the 2022 elections would be counted accurately.
Past poll results can be found here.
My take? All four incumbent Dems will be re-elected at right around 50%, which would be in keeping with the 2018 numbers, a reflection of how our state’s electorate is broken down.
[P.S. — I’ll be adding more to this diary later.]
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