 Historian Annette Atkins has explored the changing long @-@ term pattern of Minnesota politics . In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century , the heavily rural state was hostile to business and railroads , with the Republicans dominant in the small towns , and the Democrats on the farms . Numerous left @-@ wing groups and third @-@ parties emerged , such as the Anti @-@ Monopolist party in the 1870s , the Populists in the 1890s , the Non @-@ Partisan League in the 1910s , and the Farmer @-@ Labor party in the 1930s . Isolationism was strong , Atkins argues , because of the fear that Eastern bankers and industrialists forced the United States into World War I to enlarge their profits . Business fought unions , and the unions fought back , and with the governor on their side unions won some violent battles in the 1930s . In recent decades , however , the liberal coalition has weakened . Labor unions are a shadow of their old strength . Most farmers have left for the towns and especially the Twin Cities , where half the people live . The state high income tax is troublesome , and complaints are often heard about to generous welfare benefits . The New Right has mobilized social conservatives , especially those from traditional religious backgrounds , with abortion a furiously contested issue . State government has become much more friendly toward growth and the needs of business entrepreneurship . Environmentalism has split left and right , with the industrial workers in the Up North and Iron Range districts demanding that their jobs be protected from environmentalists . Atkins finds that : 
