Minnesota has never been a friendly place for Republican candidates in national elections. The last time a Republican presidential candidate won the state was 1972, and even Ronald Reagan couldn't win the North Star State in his 1984 electoral rout.
This being said, a new poll out of Minnesota have some intriguing results for the GOP in the state. Namely, that Hillary Clinton would lose to Ben Carson, Donald Trump, and Marco Rubio if the election were to be held today.
According to our exclusive KSTP/SurveyUSA poll, Clinton trails four of the six leading contenders for the Republican nomination.
If the election were held today, Clinton would trail Ben Carson 50-41 percent, Marco Rubio 47-41 percent, Carly Fiorina 45-41 percent and Donald Trump by a 45-42 percent margin. Clinton is in a virtual tie with Jeb Bush, with Bush leading 44-43 percent. She leads Ted Cruz 46-41 percent.
The poll of 516 registered voters statewide has a margin of error of +/-4.4 percent. It was conducted Oct. 29 to Nov. 2.
"It's a long time from Election Day, but as a snapshot it's bad news for Hillary Clinton," Larry Jacobs, of the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, said.
As for the who will be the nominee, more than a quarter of respondents said they think Trump will be the GOP nominee, and nearly two thirds of respondents think that Clinton will be Democrat nominee in the general.
While Pres. Obama had a decently low (37 percent) approval rating in this poll, it seems as though Minnesotans approve of the Democrats that they chose to represent them in Congress. Both Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar scored above a 50 percent approval rating.
Could Minnesota be a proverbial canary in the coal mine for the fate of the Democrats on a national level? While it's still extremely early, these are certainly encouraging signs.
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