A new survey by Rasmussen Reports found that 35 percent of likely voters in Minnesota would vote to make Gov. Tim Pawlenty president in 2012, while 49 percent would not. The remaining 16 percent weren't sure.
Despite Pawlenty's rising national profile, presidential-style out-of-state travels (and continued demurrals about whether he's running), past polls have consistently shown that most Minnesotans remain cool to the idea of President Pawlenty.
He can take some consolation from another poll result: 52 percent of Minnesotans approve of the job he's doing, putting him about the 50-percent level considered the safety zone for politicians. At the same time, the man who Pawlenty would run against, President Obama, has essentially the same approval rating, 53 percent.
The poll, conducted Monday, is based on interviews with 500 likely voters in the state. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. The results can be seen here.
