| The latest head-to-head presidential race numbers are similar to our past Minnesota Poll, but the voter enthusiasm meter has moved. Mark Zdechlik has the first report on the MPR News, KARE 11, Star Tribune poll that shows Democratic nominee Kamala Harris up 48.4 percent to 43.3 percent for Donald Trump. There aren’t many undecided voters and there seems to be only a tiny appetite for third party candidates. Unlike June, though, Harris is working with an enthusiastic Democratic base and has a small advantage over Trump among Republicans on that front.
The gap is much wider when it comes to Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race. New polling from MPR News, the Star Tribune and KARE-11 shows DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar has an 11 percentage point lead over Republican challenger Royce White as she seeks a fourth term. She’s up 51 percent to 41 percent, with about 8 percent undecided. For Republicans, that might be a bright spot given that she’s trounced her prior opponents — by 24 points in 2018, 34 points in 2012 and 20 points in her initial 2006 win. But a fair number of Republicans and independents — about 12 percent each — are undecided. Klobuchar has a significant advantage among women, 62 percent to 31 percent. White is ahead with men, roughly 50 percent to 39 percent.
More from the poll on issues: Each candidate is trusted more than the other to handle a pair of top concerns. Forty-one percent rated the nation’s economic condition as poor compared with 31 percent who saw it as “excellent” or “good.” Most of the rest — 27 percent — classified it as “fair.” Almost half — 47 percent — said illegal immigration was a “very serious” problem and another 32 percent said “somewhat serious.” Just 21 percent offered less concern. More voters think Trump is better equipped to handle both of those issues than Harris. Harris had the upper hand on who voters trust on abortion and the nation’s democracy. Respondents were closely split on whether abortion law should be a federal matter or one left to the states. More than two-thirds told pollsters they’re worried about the health of democracy.
Stay tuned for additional results Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. That includes the approval rating for Gov. Tim Walz, who voters want to lead the Legislature and their stances on cannabis legalization. Our friends at the APM Research lab have more in narrative and charts form on the poll, so check it out here.
A departing DFL lawmaker turned heads this week when he suggested the state might be better off if Republicans regained a footing in state government. Retiring Rep. Gene Pelowski of Winona, who is stepping away after 19 terms, made the remark about the virtues of divided government during a panel discussion. Republicans were swift to circulate the remark as part of their call to break up the DFL trifecta at the Capitol. Clay Masters caught up with DFL House Speaker Melissa Hortman. She downplayed the assessment, suggesting Pelowski remembers a more moderate Republican Party in Minnesota. “Unfortunately, those folks have been purged from the party, and the kind of MAGA Republicans we're dealing with today blocked progress for a very long time, and we weren't able to make progress until we had Democratic governance across governor, House and Senate," Hortman said. Republicans would need a net gain of four seats (one GOP leaning seat is currently vacant) in November to win the House. There is a winner-take-all Senate special election as well due to the resignation of a DFL lawmaker running for Congress.
Voting has started in Minnesota. There were lines outside of some early voting locations on Friday, although that was because some people were angling to be first to weigh in on the 2024 election. On Politics Friday, we talked with Secretary of State Steve Simon as well as political party leaders AK Kamara and Ryan Winkler. If you missed it, you can find that episode here.
We wrote last month about a court defeat by former governor candidate Hugh McTavish over his revoked gym membership during his 2022 run. McTavish has now asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to review decisions that dismissed his lawsuit against Life Time Fitness. He sued Life Time Fitness for canceling his membership over a leafleting dispute in a parking lot of the gym. He argued it violated his First Amendment rights to political speech; the court said the gym had the right to uphold the terms of its membership contract and is held to a different standard than government entities. McTavish won less than 1 percent of the vote running on the Independence-Alliance Party ticket. In the latest appeal, which the high court must first decide whether to consider, McTavish said free-speech cases are of paramount concern. His lawyers wrote: “It makes no sense to say that private property owners must unlock a locked door to allow candidates access to voters on their properties (in the most sacred private space there is, people's homes) but owners of open public parking lots can refuse access to their parking lots and punish candidates for distributing literature to voters in their parking lots.” We’ll keep you posted on how it plays out. | 
