Minnesota Lawyer
Minnesota State Fair
The Minnesota State Fair is officially over and the results of the annual House and Senate polls are in.
Both chambers had record numbers of participants this year, with upwards of 12,500 fair-goers stopping in at the House booth to take the survey, and nearly 8,500 people participating in the Senate’s unscientific poll.
Some of the more notable results in the House: 66.5 percent said that the state should not amend the constitution to ban gay marriage, while 29.8 said it should be changed. A photo identification requirement at the polls won the favor of 50.8 percent of state fair participants, while 46.4 percent of people did not support the legislation. That’s a considerable drop from support in years past, when the bill approached 70 percent approval from poll participants.
In the Senate, photo ID got an even colder reception. Only 46.7 percent of poll-takers supported the legislation pursued as a constitutional amendment, while 50.4 percent did not. In addition, only about 40 percent of fair-goers supported the GOP’s mission to make it harder to raise taxes in the state, while about 49 percent did not.
The survey is meant to look back at issues dealt with in the previous session, but can also hint at what’s being considered for the following political season. Both surveys asked about law changes in the budgeting process following the 20-day government shutdown and increasing line allowance for anglers from one line to two.
See the Senate poll and House polls here and here.
