Minnesota
Minnesota presidential poll: Biden leads Trump post-conviction
Will Minnesota be a battleground state in 2024?
Minnesota hasn’t elected a Republican for president in decades, but low party support and close margins means the state could be in play for Trump.
The first poll conducted of Minnesota voters post-former President Donald Trump’s felony conviction shows President Joe Biden with a slight lead.
A new poll released by KARE11, MPR News and the Star Tribune found that the race to win the White House is still a close one in the North Star State.
Despite a Republican president not winning Minnesota in more than 50 years and Biden handily beating Trump in 2020, an unapproving and apathetic electorate is predicted to make 2024 a close election.
Here are the key takeaways from the poll.
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Biden leads Trump, but not by much
Of the 800 registered Minnesotan voters polled in the survey, 44.5% said they’d support Biden while 40.6% said they’d cast their vote for Trump with a margin of error of ± 3.5 %
Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. holds 6.4% of the vote while 7% of those surveyed are undecided and 2% favor other candidates.
More: Elections 2024: Will Minnesota be a battleground state in November?
Who’s voting for who?
Minnesotan voters are sticking to their party lines, according to the results. Most Democrats supported Biden and Republicans Trump.
Independent voters are split. While nearly 12% said they were undecided, more than 37% of those polled said they’d cast their ballot for Trump, almost 35% for Biden.
Is RFK Jr. a spoiler candidate?
According to Kennedy, no, he doesn’t see himself as a spoiler.
Despite it being statistically unlikely that Kennedy wins the presidential election, his presence on the ballot is attracting unhappy voters away from their major party figures.
Thirteen percent of independent voters polled in Minnesota said they’d back Kennedy.
In an exclusive interview with USA TODAY, the 70-year-old said he’s the hope a lot of Americans are looking for.
“I think it’s important that Americans feel that its potential for democracy to work for them, and they don’t have to vote the lesser of two evils. They don’t have to hold their nose and vote for a candidate they don’t like because they hate the other guy worse,” Kennedy said.
In a race that looks like it might come down to single digits, the independent candidate could be enough to pull votes away from either candidate to secure them a victory, putting the race in an even closer position.
“I think it’s important to give them an alternative where they can continue to have hope for our democracy and vote out of inspiration rather than fear,” Kennedy said.
More: A look at the closest Minnesota presidential election races in the last 50 years
What do Minnesotans care about?
The poll identified five top issues for voters:
- Democracy (27.4%)
- Economy/jobs (26.1%)
- Immigration (14.6%)
- Crime (8%)
- Healthcare (7%)
Previous polling from KSTP/SurveyUSA gave Biden a two-point lead in both April and May surveys.
— Sam Woodward is the Minnesota elections reporting fellow for USA Today. You can reach her at swoodward@gannett.com, on X @woodyreports, or on Threads @samjowoody
Minnesota
Minnesota Duluth’s Max Plante wins men’s college hockey’s Hobey Baker Award
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Minnesota Duluth sophomore forward Max Plante is the winner of the 2026 Hobey Baker Award as the top player in men’s college hockey.
He edged fellow finalists, T.J. Hughes, a senior forward from Michigan, and Eric Pohlkamp, a junior defenseman from the University of Denver.
Plante scored 25 goals and had 52 points in 40 games in his second season with the Bulldogs. The 2024 second-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings finished third in NCAA Division I scoring behind Quinnipiac’s Ethan Wyttenbach (59) and Hughes (57).
He’s the first Minnesota Duluth player to win the award since Scott Perunovich in 2020 and the seventh overall.
Plante’s father, former NHL player Derek Plante, also played for Minnesota Duluth and was a Hobey Baker top 10 finalist in 1993.
Michigan State’s Trey Augustine was named the top goaltender in the Friday, April 10 ceremony. He went 24-9-1 for the Spartans with a 2.11 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage.
Wyttenbach was named college hockey’s rookie of the year.
Recent Hobey Baker Award winners
- 2026: F Max Plante, Minnesota Duluth
- 2025: F Isaac Howard, Michigan State
- 2024: F Macklin Celebrini, Boston University
- 2023: F Adam Fantilli, Michigan
- 2022: G Dryden McKay, Minnesota State
- 2021: F Cole Caufield, Wisconsin
- 2020: D Scott Perunovich, Minnesota Duluth
- 2019: D Cale Makar, UMass
- 2018: F Adam Gaudette, Northeastern
- 2017: D Will Butcher, Denver
- 2016: F Jimmy Vesey, Harvard
Minnesota
New strain of COVID detected in 25 states including Minnesota
Minnesota
Community members show up to support Mercado Central, businesses hit hard by ICE surge
Mercado Central on Lake Street in Minneapolis has been more than a marketplace; it’s a heartbeat, a place filled with food, culture and community. During Operation Metro Surge, that heartbeat slowed.
“We’re a co-op. We’re all business owners that just need support from our community,” Ajeleth Moreno with El Rincon Pupuseria said.
Many regular customers stopped coming and the change was impossible to ignore.
“Our regulars would not be here at all in the beginning months, but we did get really good support for the community,” Joscan Moreno said.
That community is showing up with purpose.
“I think it’s important to set an example and to show other community members that we are still here. We still need to be showing up and there’s so many beautiful examples of resilience out here today,” Rose Gomez said.
Through a wave of community support, online donations, to simply having people walk into their doors again.
“These places are few and far between, I don’t know if I know of any place exactly like this,” Simon Fitzkappes said. “And for our community to lose such a great spot, it’s really detrimental. We all hope that doesn’t happen.”
Because here, the business owners and diners alike say every visit and dollar matters.
“We’ve never got this many people here,” Ajeleth Moreno said. “We just hope it stays that way because we don’t want to be forgotten again.”
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