The Star Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio News polled 800 Minnesota likely voters between Oct. 15 and Oct. 17. Results from questions about President Donald Trump's handling of trade and tariffs are below. Scroll down the page to see details about how the poll was conducted and the demographics of the 800 respondents.
In general, do you approve or disapprove of how President Trump is handling trade negotiations with other countries?
Approve Disapprove Not sure 42% 48% 10% Approve Disapprove Not sure Hennepin / Ramsey 26% 64% 10% Metro suburbs 50 42 8 Southern Minn. 45 44 11 Northern Minn. 53 37 10 Men 49 42 9 Women 35 54 11 Democrats 3 88 9 Republicans 85 6 9 Independents / other 44 44 12 18-34 31 61 8 35-49 41 51 8 50-64 46 44 10 65+ 45 43 12 Under $50,000 38 51 11 $50,000 and over 44 47 9 Thinking about the tariffs President Trump has imposed on goods imported from other countries, which of the following is closest to your view? They will protect American jobs and help the U.S. economy; they will raise the cost of consumer goods and hurt the U.S. economy; or they will not have much of a difference.
Protect jobs, help economy Raise costs, hurt economy Not much difference Not sure 34% 46% 12% 8% Protect jobs, help economy Raise costs, hurt economy Not much difference Not sure Hennepin / Ramsey 21% 57% 11% 11% Metro suburbs 44 40 10 6 Southern Minn. 38 46 9 7 Northern Minn. 39 38 16 7 Men 41 40 12 7 Women 28 52 11 9 Democrats 8 76 8 8 Republicans 73 10 9 8 Independents / other 24 47 20 9 18-34 26 54 10 10 35-49 36 50 10 4 50-64 36 44 9 11 65+ 36 39 17 8 Under $50,000 28 47 14 11 $50,000 and over 37 44 12 7 In the long run, do you think the tariffs imposed by President Trump will leave you personally better off financially, worse off or about the same?
Better Worse About the same Not sure 19% 35% 40% 6% Better Worse About the same Not sure Hennepin / Ramsey 12% 48% 34% 6% Metro suburbs 23 29 44 4 Southern Minn. 23 35 37 5 Northern Minn. 23 24 46 7 Men 26 29 40 5 Women 14 40 40 6 Democrats 3 65 27 5 Republicans 40 4 51 5 Independents / other 18 31 44 7 18-34 15 40 39 6 35-49 23 37 35 5 50-64 17 33 44 6 65+ 22 32 40 6 Under $50,000 15 37 40 8 $50,000 and over 22 35 39 4 About the poll
This Star Tribune/MPR News Minnesota Poll findings are based on interviews conducted Oct. 15-17 with 800 Minnesota likely voters. The interviews were conducted via land line (60 percent) and cellphone (40 percent). The poll was conducted for the Star Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio News by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research Inc.
Results of a poll based on 800 interviews will vary by no more than 3.5 percentage points, plus or minus, from the overall population 95 times out of 100. Margins are larger for groups within the sample, such as Democrats and Republicans, and age groups.
The self-identified party affiliation of the respondents is 38 percent Democrats, 33 percent Republicans and 29 percent independents or other.
Sampling error does not take into account other sources of variation inherent in public opinion surveys, such as nonresponse, question wording or context effects. In addition, news events may have affected opinions during the period the poll was taken.
Readers can e-mail questions to matt.delong@startribune.com.
Demographic breakdown of this polling sample
PARTY DFL/Democrat 306 (38%) Republican 265 (33%) Independent/Other 229 (29%) AGE 18-34 136 (17%) 35-49 210 (26%) 50-64 237 (30%) 65+ 210 (26%) Refused 7 (1%) GENDER Male 384 (48%) Female 416 (52%) INCOME < $25,000 106 (13%) $25,000-$49,999 119 (15%) $50,000-$74,999 131 (16%) $75,000-$99,999 129 (16%) $100,000+ 140 (18%) Refused 175 (22%) REGION Hennepin/Ramsey 255 (32%) Metro Suburbs 230 (29%) Southern Minnesota 160 (20%) Northern Minnesota 155 (19%) INTERVIEW Land-line 479 (60%) Cell Phone 321 (40%)
