Poll: Minnesotans back Obama or Clinton over McCain

A new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll found that Barack Obama leads John McCain 51 percent to 38 percent among the state's registered voters. Hillary Rodham Clinton leads the Arizona senator 49 percent to 40 percent.

By BOB VON STERNBERG, Star Tribune

Last update: May 17, 2008 - 9:21 PM

A new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll found that Minnesotans support either Democratic presidential candidate over Republican John McCain.

Barack Obama leads McCain 51 percent to 38 percent among the state's registered voters. Hillary Rodham Clinton leads the Arizona senator 49 percent to 40 percent.

The top election issue in Minnesotans' minds is the economy, with the war in Iraq a distant second priority.

Although a Republican presidential candidate has not won Minnesota since 1972, the state is expected to be a hard-fought battleground in November.

The trial heat in the presidential race was based on interviews with 1,117 registered voters conducted Monday through Thursday , and those questions have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage point. The overall poll of 1,203 Minnesota adults has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Read Sunday's Star Tribune for the full results and for comments from Minnesotans interviewed for the poll.

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