Poll: Minnesota Democrat Governor Tim Walz’s Approval Is Underwater

Minnesota Democrat Gov. Tim Walz’s approval is underwater among registered voters in his state, according to a new poll from Minnesota Public Radio.

Only 49 percent of the registered voters in Minnesota approve of the governor, compared to the 44 percent who disapprove of him.

Broken down by party, the poll shows bad numbers with independents and Republican voters in the state while approval among Democrats remains high. Only 39 percent of the independent voter respondents approve of Walz, while a majority (52 percent) showed disapproval towards him.

Additionally, 11 percent of the Republicans approve of Biden while a supermajority (81 percent) disapprove of him. However,  89 percent of Democrats approve of Walz and only six percent disapprove of him.

Walz’s low approval can cause problems for the governor as he comes up for reelection. Additionally, the poll asked registered voters in his state about President Joe Biden. Only 47 percent approve of the president, compared to the 51 percent who disapprove of him.

“There’s a long way to go. And plenty of issues that will pass across his desk. We still are dealing with COVID …And I’m sure there are going to be many opportunities for him to gain or lose support between now and next year,” said Brad Coker, the chief pollster at Mason Dixon Polling and Strategy.

The poll was taken through multiple news agencies such as MPR News, the Star Tribune, KARE-11, and FRONTLINE. It was taken between September 13 and 15. There were 800 respondents that were registered Minnesota voters. They were queried by telephone and the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

“Elections are choices between two candidates,” said Jeff Blodgett, a longtime Democrat strategist, who acknowledged to MPR his party is going to be facing a tough time in the midterms. “In the case of approval and disapproval, you’re rating an individual without that choice.”

“And so ultimately, it’s about the different viewpoints and different positions on issues and people get to choose. And that has much more to do with the election result than those favorable, unfavorable numbers,” the Democratic strategist added.

Follow Jacob Bliss on Twitter @jacobmbliss.