Minnesota Poll results: Walz job approval and voting by mail

By Star Tribune

May 25, 2020 at 4:59PM
(Dave Braunger/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The Star Tribune, MPR News and KARE 11 interviewed 800 Minnesota registered voters between May 18 and May 20. Findings from questions about Gov. Tim Walz's job performance and voting by mail are below. Totals may not add up to 100% due to rounding. Scroll down the page for details about how the poll was conducted and the demographics of the 800 respondents.

Do you approve or disapprove of Tim Walz's job performance as governor?

Approve Disapprove Not sure 65% 30% 5% Approve Disapprove Not sure Hennepin/ Ramsey 74% 22% 4% Rest of metro 65 31 4 Southern Minn. 55 39 6 Northern Minn. 61 32 7 Men 58 37 5 Women 71 23 6 DFL/ Democrat 93 4 3 Republican 33 61 6 Independent/ other 65 28 7 18-34 68 23 9 35-49 68 30 2 50-64 65 29 6 65+ 58 35 6 Under $50,000 67 27 6 $50,000 and over 63 33 4 No college degree 61 33 6 College graduate 70 26 4 Approve Disapprove Not
sure 56% 25% 19% Approve Disapprove Not sure TOTAL 56% 25% 19% Hennepin/ Ramsey 65% 12% 23% Rest of metro 53 29 18 Southern Minn. 47 37 16 Northern Minn. 55 29 16 Men 54 27 19 Women 58 23 19 DFL/ Democrat 78 3 19 Republican 31 51 18 Independent/ other 56 25 19 18-34 61 20 19 35-49 51 26 23 50-64 55 27 18 65+ 58 27 15 Under $50,000 55 27 18 $50,000 and over 58 24 18 No college degree 52 28 20 College graduate 59 23 18 Given the concern that the coronavirus may still be contagious this fall, do you support or oppose changing election laws to allow every registered voter in Minnesota to automatically receive a ballot by mail for the November elections?

Support Oppose Not sure 59% 37% 4% Support Oppose Not sure TOTAL 59% 37% 4% Hennepin/ Ramsey 72% 25% 3% Rest of metro 54 40 6 Southern Minn. 51 46 3 Northern Minn. 52 44 4 Men 49 47 4 Women 67 29 4 DFL/ Democrat 97 0 3 Republican 23 74 3 Independent/ other 49 44 7 18-34 67 30 3 35-49 61 35 4 50-64 54 41 5 65+ 55 42 3 Under $50,000 62 35 3 $50,000 and over 55 41 4 No college degree 55 41 4 College graduate 63 33 4 About the poll

The findings of this Star Tribune/MPR News/KARE 11 Minnesota Poll are based on live interviews conducted May 18 to May 20 with 800 Minnesota registered voters. The poll was conducted for the Star Tribune, Minnesota Public Radio News and KARE 11 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy Inc.The sample for this survey was drawn from a Mason-Dixon database that includes approximately 2.2 million registered Minnesota voters who are matched with a telephone number – either a land line, a cell phone or both. A random sample of 100,000 voters from unique households with unique phones was drawn from this database for use in calling on this poll.Those interviewed were randomly selected by computer from this phone-matched Minnesota voter registration file with quotas assigned to reflect the state's voter registration distribution by county. For example, Hennepin County and Ramsey County combined account for 32% of the state's registered voters, so 32% of the survey interviews were completed there. The interviews were conducted via land line (35%) and cellphone (65%).The margin of sampling error for this sample of 800 registered voters, according to standards customarily used by statisticians, is no more than ± 3.5 percentage points. This means that there is a 95 percent probability that the "true" figure would fall within that range if all voters were surveyed. The margin of error is higher for any subgroup, such as a gender or age grouping.The self-identified party affiliation of the respondents is 38% Democrats, 33% Republicans and 29% independents or other.Sampling error does not take into account other sources of variation inherent in public opinion surveys, such as nonresponse, question wording or context effects. In addition, news events may have affected opinions during the period the poll was taken.The demographic profile of this poll of registered voters is an accurate reflection of their respective voter populations. This determination is based on more than 100 statewide polls conducted by Mason-Dixon in Minnesota over the past 32 years – a period that spans eight presidential election cycles that began in 1988.Readers can e-mail questions to matt.delong@startribune.com.Demographic breakdown of this polling sample

PARTY DFL/ Democrat 304 (38%) Republican 263 (33%) Independent/ other 233 (29%) AGE 18-34 129 (16%) 35-49 250 (31%) 50-64 228 (29%) 65+ 187 (23%) Refused 6 (1%) INCOME < $25,000 87 (11%) $25,000-$49,999 134 (17%) $50,000-$74,999 111 (14%) $75,000-$99,999 100 (13%) $100,000+ 143 (18%) Refused 225 (28%) GENDER Men 378 (47%) Women 422 (53%) REGION Hennepin/ Ramsey 255 (32%) Rest of metro 230 (29%) Southern Minnesota 160 (20%) Northern Minnesota 155 (19%) EDUCATION High school
or less 173 (22%) Some college/
Vocational 251 (31%) College graduate 248 (31%) Graduate degree 125 (16%) Refused 3 (0%) INTERVIEW Land-line 277 (35%) Cell Phone 523 (65%)

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