Poll: Republican Jim Schultz Leads Minnesota AG Keith Ellison by 7 Points

Jim Schultz, the Republican candidate for attorney general in Minnesota, has extended his lead over Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) to seven points, according to a poll.

The most recent KSTP/SurveyUSA poll found that 49 percent of likely Minnesota voters support Schultz, compared to just 42 percent for Ellison. An additional nine percent of voters remain undecided.

“Minnesotans are ready for change,” Schultz declared on Twitter after the poll results were released.

Schultz has continued to gain momentum over Ellison, who previously led Schultz by six points in KSTP/SurveyUSA’s September poll and led by two in an early October poll.

“Ellison has to hope that almost all of the undecideds vote for the incumbent, and that very rarely happens,” Carleton College political analyst Steven Schier said. “Most undecideds vote for the challenger.”

Schultz’s surge in the polls can likely be attributed to his tough-on-crime campaign, as Americans are increasingly concerned about violent crime within the country. For example, a Pew Research Center poll found that 61 percent of American voters believe violent crime is “very important” when deciding who to vote for in next week’s midterm elections.

On the crime issue, Schultz has a 54-point advantage over Ellison at 73 to 19 percent.

“The fact that Schultz has a huge margin amongst those who think crime is a top issue really helps to explain his lead,” Schier added.

Interestingly, Ellison’s lead in the Twin Cities metro area is only six percent, which is well below the double-digit lead many other statewide Democrats hold in that area. However, Schultz has “big leads in every other part of the state,” KSTP reported.

The poll surveyed 836 likely Minnesota voters from October 26 to October 30. The survey’s margin of error is ±3.9 percent.

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.