President Biden is leading former President Donald Trump in the blue-leaning Minnesota by four percentage points – but Trump voters reported having far more enthusiasm for their candidate, a poll released Monday showed.
Biden’s lead over Trump came in at 45%-41%, according to the Star Tribune/MPR News/KARE 11 Minnesota poll. Seven percent of surveyed voters were undecided and 6% supported independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Thirty-one percent said they were “very” excited about voting for Biden, and another 36% said they were “somewhat” excited.
Meanwhile, Trump had 62% of respondents reporting they were “very” excited about his run, with another 21% saying they were “somewhat” looking forward to voting for the Republican.
The Trump campaign has said they see a possibility to beat Biden in The North Star State in November, arguing that polls show that the state is “falling into play.”
Minnesota has not voted for a Republican president since Richard Nixon’s 1972 landslide, and Trump lost the state in 2016 to Hillary Clinton by 1.5% before losing to Biden in 2020 by 7.1%.
The polls findings showed that the state is largely divided, with only two counties in the entire state, Hennepin and Ramsey, going for Biden.
Trump led everywhere else, but was hit hard by losing the two heavily-populated Twin Cities counties.
The 45th president polled better among older voters, while Biden had a wide margin among young voters in the poll, running counter to recent national polls showing the younger demographic increasingly favoring Trump.
Biden led the 18-34 demographic 53%-35% in the poll, and also led the 35-49 age group 48%-33%. Trump, meanwhile, led the 50-64 age group 43%-42% and the 65+ group 51%-38%.
The poll, which had a sample size of 800 likely Minnesota voters, was conducted via phone between June 3 and June 5 and had a margin of error of 3.5%.
Trump’s Minnesota strategy is a part of the Republican hope to make up ground in states like Virginia, Florida and North Carolina to have several paths to victory to 270 electoral votes in November.
The former president went to Minnesota on May 17 after attending his son Barron’s graduation ceremony in Florida where he was a featured speaker at the state GOP’s annual Lincoln Reagan dinner in St. Paul.
At the dinner, Trump predicted that he was “going to win this state.”
