Capitol View for September 20

Good morning and welcome to the start of another work week.

Interesting results from the Minnesota Poll, conducted for MPR News, the Star Tribune, KARE 11 and FRONTLINE. The first results were from a poll of Minneapolis registered voters, and showed nearly half supporting the idea behind the charter to replace the city’s police department with a new department of public safety. Exact numbers: 49 percent in favor, 42 percent opposed and 10 percent undecided. The police department is unpopular, but at the same time a majority does not want to cut the size of the police force. Among Black voters there was less support for the amendment and even more concern about cutting police officers. Pamela Kinsey, who is Black, told reporter Jon Collins she wishes police had more compassion for the community, but doesn't think the city should get rid of the MPD, especially following a string of shootings where young people were killed. "I'm really for the police department. We need them. We've got criminals out here that are really bad people,” Kinsey said. “We need the police department. There's no if ands or buts about it." More from MPR News.

The poll also shows only about a third of Minneapolis voters have a favorable opinion of Mayor Jacob Frey , but at the same time many voters favor giving the mayor’s office more power over the city’s daily operations. Stephanie Cholensky, who is white, said she doesn’t agree with Frey’s political stances and won’t vote for him. “He's capitulated to the police unions, and he has not prioritized affordable housing,” Cholensky said. ‘There's really not much I'm impressed with when it comes to him.” Frey is facing more than a dozen challengers, including strong campaigns from community organizer Sheila Nezhad and former state representative Kate Knuth. Frey is more popular with Black voters than with white voters--52 percent of Black voters see him favorably and 19 percent unfavorably. As low as Frey’s numbers are, the Minneapolis City Council fares even worse, with a favorable opinion from just 28 percent, an unfavorable opinion from 44 percent and 28 percent expressing no opinion. A charter amendment on rent control has 46 percent in favor, 39 percent opposed and 15 percent undecided. Jon Collins has more on those results too.

And if you’re looking for specifics about how the poll was done along with the margin of error, here you go.

The Star Tribune had a profile of the new Minnesota Senate Republican Leader Jeremy Miller of Winona. From the story by Jessie Van Berkel : He was raised with conservative values, Miller said, and if Republicans take control of state government in 2022, he said he would work to rein in state spending and phase out the state income tax on Social Security benefits. He said Senate Republicans haven't talked about whether they would push for abortion restrictions like those in Texas but have talked about election security. "There's still a lot of concerns surrounding election integrity," Miller said. "If there's anyone who doesn't think that the process is fair, to me that's concerning."

MPR News Reporter TIm Pugmire sends this: Republican gubernatorial hopeful Dr. Scott Jensen has released a bill to help him achieve his goal of making Minnesota what he calls a “health freedom sanctuary state.” Many employers, businesses and schools around the state have implemented policies that Jensen wants banned. The bill he supports would prohibit employers from requiring vaccinations as a condition for employment. It would also make it unlawful for businesses to require customers to show documentation of their vaccination status. And the legislation would bar schools from requiring students to wear face coverings on school grounds. Jensen credited several Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Mary Franson of Alexandria and Sen. Roger Chamberlain of Lino Lakes for working on the bill.