Title: The coming Republican state of Minnesota? | MinnPost
Headings: The coming Republican state of Minnesota?
The coming Republican state of Minnesota?
Signs of a shift
DFL base seems to be eroding
Center of the national action
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Content: Since 1999 a Democrat has controlled the governorship only eight years out of 20. When Democrat Mark Dayton won the governorship in 2010 he was the first of his party to win that office in Minnesota since 1986. In 2016 Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by 45,000 votes – the closest presidential race in the state since 1984 favorite son Mondale barely eked out a victory over Ronald Reagan. That year Minnesota was the only state in country to vote Democratic. Clinton’s close victory should not have been a surprise – exit polls put Minnesota at 37 percent to 35 percent in terms of Democratic/Republican affiliation, similar to the 36 percent to 33 percent split nationally. Article continues after advertisement
From 2008 through the 2012 and then into the 2016 presidential elections, the actual number of votes and the percentage of votes received by the Democratic candidate declined. In 2008 Barack Obama received 1,573,454 votes compared to John McCain’s 1,275,409 – a difference of 298,045. In 2012 the gap between Obama and Mitt Romney narrowed to 225,942. Then in 2016 it was 44,765 between Clinton and Trump – a steady narrowing of the gap between the Democratic and Republican candidate. In 2008, of the 87 counties in Minnesota, Obama won 42.