With Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) throwing his hat in the ring on Wednesday, there are now something like seven thousand Republicans vying for the party’s nomination for President.
The Democrats, on the other hand, seem content to continue numbly marching forward with their anointed frontrunner, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. However, a new poll out of the reliably blue state of Minnesota provides the latest data point in the ongoing nationwide research project: People Just Don’t Like Hillary Clinton.
According to a report by MinnPost, Clinton’s approval ratings are underwater among likely Minnesota voters. The poll was conducted by The Minnesota Jobs Coalition and The Tarrance Group from June 9th to June 11th, of 600 voters by landline and cell phone. The margin of error is +/- four percent.
Forty-nine percent of likely Minnesota voters disapprove of Clinton, and only 35 percent approve of her, a 14 point deficit.
In comparison, another Democrat, the state’s governor, Mark Dayton, fared much better. He’s got a 51 percent approval rating and 42 percent disapproval. These results are only a few points lower than a Minneapolis Star Tribune poll taken last March.
Even among Democrats,* Clinton lags significantly behind Dayton’s popularity. Dayton wins the approval of 83 percent of Minnesota Democrats, where Clinton only gets 66 percent.
The wife of accused serial philanderer Bill Clinton doesn’t do much better with the ladies. Forty-six percent of women overall disapprove of her, and 40 percent approved. Among married women, her numbers are even lower: 48 percent disapproval, and 39 percent approval. Among single women, long viewed as a liberal stronghold, Clinton is still one point underwater, with 43 percent disapproval and 42 percent approval.
John Rouleau, the executive director of the Minnesota Jobs Coalition, said that the polling results show that Clinton “is not an asset” at the top of the ticket, and may be a detriment for the Democrats in swing Congressional and legislative districts.
These polling numbers have some intriguing parallels with Wendy Davis’ catastrophically bad campaign for Texas governor. Davis, championed by the left as a feminist hero after her failed attempt to filibuster Texas’ pro-life bills in 2013, ended up not just losing the election, but lost women voters, and had to then watch Republicans increase their representation in both Congress and the Texas Legislature. Even Davis’ own state senate seat went red — really red — won by Konni Burton, a pro-life tea party candidate endorsed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
Minnesota has been a fairly reliable state for the Democrats in Presidential years, and has not given its electoral votes to a Republican since voting for Richard Nixon in 1972. With Clinton reaching Wendy Davis-depths of unpopularity, however, Minnesota might not just be in play, but winnable for the eventual Republican nominee.
* Minnesota has its own state party affiliate of the Democratic Party, called the “Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party,” or “DFL” for short. It was formed in 1944 when the Minnesota Democratic Party merged with the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party.
Follow Sarah Rumpf on Twitter @rumpfshaker.
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