A new poll released this week has Republican Senate candidate Jason Lewis statistically tied with Democratic Sen. Tina Smith.
According to a poll released Tuesday by Emerson College, 48% of likely voters want to send Smith back to the U.S. Senate, compared to 45% who would like to see Lewis take over. The three-point lead is within the poll’s 3.6 percentage point margin of error, meaning the candidates are statistically tied.
“These results show what I’ve been saying and what we’ve been feeling on the ground for the last year of this campaign. Voters are sick and tired of Sen. Tina Smith putting her personal financial interests and her radical, left-wing agenda ahead of the interests of Minnesotans, just like she did when she twice blocked COVID relief while simultaneously selling off $1 million dollars’ worth of personal stock holdings,” Lewis said in a statement.
The poll has President Donald Trump within the margin of error as well, trailing former Vice President Joe Biden 47% to 50%.
“Donald Trump could win Minnesota. We can’t let that happen,” Smith wrote on Twitter Tuesday when asking for donations to her campaign.
🚨🚨BREAKING: A new poll has our race within the MARGIN OF ERROR. We’re up by only 3 points — and @JoeBiden is at the same. Donald Trump could win MN. We can’t let that happen. Chip in $3 today to help us keep MN blue: https://t.co/3ziG3UoYSy
— Tina Smith (@TinaSmithMN) August 11, 2020
The president, however, suffers from a “slightly underwater” approval rating, with 46% of Minnesota voters approving of his job performance and 51% disapproving.
“In 2016, the Senate races in each state were won by the same party that won the presidential election in that state, and it appears that the same pattern might emerge in 2020,” said Spencer Kimball, director of the Emerson College poll.
Gov. Tim Walz enjoys a higher approval rating than the president, with 50% approving, 41% disapproving, and 9% holding a neutral opinion on his job performance.
Lewis said Smith’s “radical left-wing agenda belongs on the ash heap of history, not in the United States Senate.”
“The more that voters learn about Sen. Tina Smith, the more trouble she’ll find herself in. Whether it’s her calls to decimate Medicare as we know it, or her hostile views toward mining, energy, logging and agriculture, her calls for higher taxes, or her refusal to denounce efforts to abolish the police, Minnesotans are turning on Tina Smith, and for good reason,” he added.
Although voters are split on whether public schools should reopen in the fall, a majority (79%) agreed that distance learning is worse for students than in-person instruction.
A separate poll conducted by The Tarrance Group for the Congressional Leadership Fund has former Lt. Gov. Michelle Fischbach up by 10 points over Rep. Collin Peterson, whose district is one of the most pro-Trump districts represented by a Democrat. Fischbach won her primary Tuesday over Dave Hughes and will take on Peterson in the general election.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
