Obama leads McCain in independent Minn. poll

06/27/2008

The Quinnipiac University poll showed Barack Obama with a 54-37 advantage on John McCain in Minnesota, and Sen. Norm Coleman ahead of Al Franken, 51-41.



ST. PAUL (AP) -- Both political parties have something to savor in a new poll of Minnesota voters that gives Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama a wide lead over Republican John McCain and shows Republican Sen. Norm Coleman in control against Democratic challenger Al Franken.

Obama and Coleman both have sizable advantages among independents — both had the support of more than half of voters in that important bloc — in the Quinnipiac University poll published Thursday.

Overall, the survey of 1,572 Minnesota voters put Obama up 54 percent to McCain's 37 percent, and three-quarters of the people interviewed said they don't anticipate changing their mind before November. In the Senate race, Coleman led Franken 51 percent to 41 percent.

"At this point it's going to take major shifts in events to turn the tide in either race in Minnesota," said Clay Richards, the assistant director of the Connecticut university's polling institute.

Quinnipiac conducted the poll June 17-24 for the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.com; it has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. It coincides with similar polls for Colorado, Michigan and Wisconsin — all considered electoral battlegrounds. Obama leads all four, but none more heavily than Minnesota.

Nick Kimball, a Minnesota campaign spokesman for Obama, said he expects the race to tighten here.

"It's very early right now in the race," he said. "The conventional wisdom is people don't start paying attention until the State Fair rolls around."

Ben Golnik, the regional manager for McCain's campaign, said the results probably reflect a bounce Obama got from locking up the Democratic nomination in early June. He said the poll doesn't change the McCain campaign's view that Minnesota is in play.

"It's always going to be a tough battle in a state like Minnesota in a statewide race," Golnik said. "If anybody said it wouldn't be a tough battle, they'd be wrong."