HOW THE POLL WAS CONDUCTED
Today's Star Tribune Minnesota Poll findings are based on 565 landline and 241 cellphone interviews conducted May 2-5 with a representative sample of Minnesota adults. Interviews were conducted under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International.
Results of a poll based on 806 interviews will vary by no more than 4.7 percentage points, plus or minus, from the overall population 95 times out of 100.
The self-identified party affiliation of the random sample is 33 percent Democrat, 23 percent Republican and 37 percent independent. The remaining 7 percent said they were members of another party, no party or declined to answer.
Results for the question about the best approach to solving the budget deficit -- primarily through service reductions or through a combination of tax hikes and spending cuts -- are based on interviews with 548 of the 806 respondents. The question was reasked in follow-up calls to all respondents because of a problem in the original wording of the question, and 548 of the respondents were reached. Results of a poll based on 548 interviews will vary by no more than 5.7 percentage points, plus or minus, from the overall population 95 times out of 100.
The self-identified party affiliation for that group is 35 percent Democrat, 24 percent Republican and 35 percent independent. Sampling error does not take into account other sources of variation inherent in public opinion surveys, such as nonresponse, question wording, context effects or news events. Readers can e-mail questions to djmcgrath@startribune.com.
