An SCSU Survey student caller works the phone bank during the Fall SCSU Survey.
Fifty-eight percent of respondents think the state is headed in the right direction as opposed to 25 percent who see it as going on the wrong track.
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This is the highest percentage of Minnesotans who see the state as being on the right direction in the past 13 years. Last year 53 percent of Minnesotans felt the state was on the right track.
The 35-year-old SCSU Survey uses student directors and student workers to gather and analyze data. The survey is conducted as part of several professors’ classes.
The survey also examined the differences between Democrat and Republican self-identified respondents and found 76 percent of Democrats and 47 percent of Republicans believe the state is on the right track.
The survey also took a look at how Minnesotans felt about presidential candidates at the time the survey was conducted Oct. 12-22. Minnesotans shared their views on a variety of candidates at that time, those with the most support included:
- Of those who identify as Republican, 26 percent supported Ben Carson for the party’s nomination, 16 percent Trump and 40 percent supported someone else or were undecided.
- In the Democratic race, 53 percent of Democrats said they would support Hillary Clinton for the nomination, 33 percent supported Bernie Sanders, 7 percent Joe Biden and the rest supported other candidates or were undecided.
A student caller reviews information on her screen before making her next call.
The survey also explored Minnesotans views on Minnesota politicians, President Barack Obama and presidential candidates.
Gov. Mark Dayton, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Al Franken and President Obama are all seen as favorable by more than 50 percent of Minnesotans. Klobuchar had the highest positive responses with 59 percent of Minnesotans saying they have a favorable or very favorable opinion of her.
Hillary Clinton had a 41 percent favorable, 49 percent unfavorable response and Donald Trump a 25 percent favorable and 49 percent unfavorable response.
The responses followed party lines with Democrats having much higher positive responses to the Democratic politicians than Republicans.
The Democrats also did better among those with a college education or higher and with women. Evangelical Christians were more likely to have more favorable opinions of Republican politicians.
The same patterns were found for job approvals. Fifty-one percent of Minnesotans had a favorable opinion of Klobuchar’s job performance, 49 percent of Franken’s performance, 46 percent of Obama’s performance and 45 percent of Dayton’s performance.
Responses for the survey were gathered from 623 randomly-selected landline and cellphone users Oct. 12-22 at the St. Cloud State Survey Lab.
The SCSU Fall 2015 Survey also has released an Environmental Report based and a Disability Report focused on Minnesotans’ views on the American Disability Act.
