Minnesota Lawyer
Rick Nolan
The first outside polling released in the contentious and expensive race for Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District shows DFL candidate Rick Nolan and incumbent freshman Republican Rep. Chip Cravaack neck-and-neck.
The poll, released by KSTP on Wednesday night, showed Nolan with a slight edge over Cravaack in the state’s northern congressional district with a 46-45 margin. The poll also indicates that 9 percent of voters remain undecided. Cravaack leads among independent voters in the poll, with 53 percent saying they’d vote for him, and only 36 percent saying they would vote for Nolan. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.2 percent.
In some of the key issues emerging in the race, more voters said Cravaack will be stronger on mining and jobs; he beats Nolan by 3 to 4 percentage points on both topics. But Nolan is winning the debate on Medicare in the aging district, with 41 percent to 36 percent saying Nolan will do a better job protecting the program than Cravaack.
The poll also shows GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney beating President Barack Obama 47-45 in the 8th District, with about 4 percent of voters undecided and another 4 percent choosing an “other”option. To see the poll’s crosstabs, go here.
