By Mike Kaszuba

The Minnesota Vikings got two doses of bad news this week regarding the team's drive for a new stadium. First, a new poll showed there is "considerable resistance" among Minnesotans to publicly financing a new stadium. The poll, conducted by Public Policy Polling, a Raleigh, N.C. organization, generally reflected other polls regarding the stadium and found that 61 percent of Minnesota voters opposed using tax dollars for the project. Forty-nine percent would rather have the team move to California than get public subsidies in Minnesota, the poll reported. However, the poll did find that Minnesotans were receptive to using proceeds from racino – putting slot machines at the state's horse racing tracks – to build a new Vikings stadium. Sixty-two percent favored raising money from gaming to build a new stadium, and only a quarter of those asked opposed it. The poll surveyed 949 Minnesota voters on December 4 and 5, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percent. Though it comes as no surprise, the president of the conservative Taxpayers League of Minnesota also said Thursday that the Vikings need "to get real" concerning a new stadium. Phil Krinkie, the group's president and a former Republican legislator, said the Vikings should scuttle plans for a new stadium – and either remodel the Metrodome, the team's home for the past 28 years, or ask to share the new football stadium at the University of Minnesota. "It's time for [Vikings owner Zygi] Wilf to lower his expectations," said Krinkie. "Minnesota is facing a $6 billion projected [state] budget shortfall, so money for a billionaire playground will not be a top priority for lawmakers during the 2011 [legislative] session." Both the House and Senate in Minnesota will be controlled by Republicans when the Legislature convenes in January. Incoming Gov. Mark Dayton, a DFLer, has said he might be receptive to a new Vikings stadium under certain circumstances.