Posts by Dr. Eric Ostermeier
Number of Undecided Voters Increasing in Minnesota Senate Race
In SurveyUSA’s new mid-August poll of the Minnesota U.S. Senate race, Norm Coleman has a 7-point advantage over Al Franken, 46 to 39 percent. The poll continues a trend over the last six weeks revealing there is a substantial number…
Read MoreThird Parties Garnering Support In Key Statewide Races
A recent report by Gallup indicates muted support for third party candidates thus far in the 2008 presidential race. In an open-ended question asking likely voters for which candidate they would cast their presidential ballot, only 2 percent cited third…
Read MoreObama Support Falls To Lowest Mark Against McCain in Rasmussen’s Minnesota Polling
As recent state polls across the country indicate a tightening of the presidential race in favor of John McCain, a new Rasmussen poll of 700 likely Minnesota voters finds support for Obama at its lowest margin to date across nine…
Read MoreWill GOP Controversy Put 16th Senate District In Play for the DFL?
Minnesota blogs have been buzzing in recent days in light of state Representative Mark Olson’s endorsement by the Republican Party for the special election in Senate District 16 held this November. The election is being held to fill Betsy Wergin’s…
Read MoreWill Minnesotans Turn Out On Primary Day?
Minnesotans have earned a deserved reputation for turning out the vote on Election Day in recent years. During presidential election years, Minnesota has yielded a turnout rate of between 65 and 83 percent since 1952, including increasing totals of…
Read MoreObama Lead Narrows in Iowa While Harkin’s Lead Expands
In another bit of sobering news for the Barack Obama campaign, a new Rasmussen poll of 500 likely voters in Iowa finds his double-digit lead over John McCain from a month ago now standing at 5 points. In July, Obama’s…
Read MorePawlenty VP Pick Would Be Rare: Slot Historically Reserved for D.C. Players
Should John McCain pick Tim Pawlenty to be his Vice-Presidential running mate in the coming days, the selection would be a bit of a rarity, given recent political history. During the past 14 presidential elections dating back to 1952, just…
Read MorePawlenty Disapproval Numbers Increasing Amid VP Talk
Although Minnesota Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty is not beloved by all in the Gopher State, he has maintained a consistent level of job approval throughout his gubernatorial tenure. In nearly 60 public opinion polls of Minnesotans conducted since early…
Read MoreMcCain Making Inroads in Wisconsin
A Quinnipiac survey of likely voters conducted in late July showed John McCain neck-and-neck with Barack Obama in Minnesota, but trailing by double-digits in Wisconsin. At that time Smart Politics warned that the political history of the region would make…
Read MoreIowa House Democrats Eye to Expand Advantage in ’08
Iowa Democrats seek to retain control of the House of Representatives in back-to-back elections for the first time since 1988/1990. Democrats won control of the House in 2006 with a 5-seat gain (as projected by Smart Politics), ending a 14-year…
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