The Star Tribune, MPR News, KARE 11 and FRONTLINE, the PBS series, interviewed 800 Minnesota registered voters between Sept. 13 and Sept. 15. Findings from questions about the war in Afghanistan, the Biden administration's handling of the withdrawal of U.S. forces and Afghan refugees are below. Totals may not add up to 100% due to rounding. Scroll down the page for details about how the poll was conducted, a map of the Minnesota regions used in this poll and the demographics of the 800 respondents.

Which of these comes closest to your opinion regarding the withdrawal of U.S. troops and civilians from Afghanistan? Would you say you:
   • Support withdrawal and approve of the Biden administration's handling of it?
   • Support withdrawal but disapprove of the Biden administration's handling of it?
   • Oppose withdrawal?

Support and approve Support but disapprove Oppose Not sure
27% 45% 15% 13%
Support and approve Support but disapprove Oppose Not sure
Hennepin/ Ramsey 36% 39% 11% 14%
Rest of metro 20 51 18 11
Southern Minn. 24 44 19 13
Northern Minn. 24 48 15 13
Men 16 54 19 11
Women 37 37 11 15
DFL/ Democrat 53 21 8 18
Republican 1 64 25 10
Independent/ other 21 55 13 11
18-34 34 40 9 17
35-49 26 45 16 13
50-64 22 49 17 12
65+ 27 46 16 11
No college degree 23 48 17 12
College graduate 31 42 13 14
Biden voters 48 27 8 17
Trump voters 5 64 23 8

After 20 years of involvement in Afghanistan, which was initiated by a military invasion following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks within the U.S., do you feel the effort was worth it or not worth it?

Worth it Not worth it Not sure
31% 46% 23%
Worth it Not worth it Not
sure
Hennepin/ Ramsey 30% 48% 22%
Rest of metro 34 48 18
Southern Minn. 32 37 31
Northern Minn. 29 47 24
Men 30 48 22
Women 32 44 24
DFL/ Democrat 29 45 26
Republican 31 50 19
Independent/ other 34 43 23
18-34 26 50 24
35-49 33 41 26
50-64 34 47 19
65+ 29 48 23
No college degree 33 47 20
College graduate 29 45 26
Biden voters 28 47 25
Trump voters 34 45 21

Would you support or oppose Afghan refugees being resettled in your community?

Support Oppose Undecided
53% 32% 15%
Support Oppose Undecided
Hennepin/ Ramsey 67% 21% 12%
Rest of metro 46 36 18
Southern Minn. 45 40 15
Northern Minn. 46 37 17
Men 38 44 18
Women 66 21 13
DFL/ Democrat 82 7 11
Republican 19 63 18
Independent/ other 51 32 17
18-34 63 25 12
35-49 54 31 15
50-64 50 34 16
65+ 47 37 16
No college degree 46 35 19
College graduate 60 29 11
Biden voters 82 8 10
Trump voters 22 58 20

About the poll

The findings of this Star Tribune/MPR News/KARE 11/FRONTLINE Minnesota Poll are based on live interviews conducted Sept. 13 to Sept. 15 with 800 Minnesota registered voters. The poll was conducted for the Star Tribune, Minnesota Public Radio News, KARE 11 and FRONTLINE, the PBS series, by Mason-Dixon Polling and Strategy Inc.
Those interviewed were randomly selected from a phone-matched Minnesota voter registration list that included both land-line and cell phone numbers. Quotas were assigned to reflect voter registration by county. The interviews were conducted via land line (31%) and cellphone (69%).
The margin of sampling error for this sample of 800 registered voters, according to standards customarily used by statisticians, is no more than ± 3.5 percentage points. This means that there is a 95 percent probability that the "true" figure would fall within that range if all voters were surveyed. The margin of error is higher for any subgroup, such as a gender or age grouping.
The self-identified party affiliation of the respondents is 37% Democrats, 31% Republicans and 32% independents or other.
Sampling error does not take into account other sources of variation inherent in public opinion surveys, such as nonresponse, question wording or context effects. In addition, news events may have affected opinions during the period the poll was taken.
The demographic profile of this poll of likely voters is an accurate reflection of their respective voter populations. This determination is based on more than 100 statewide polls conducted by Mason-Dixon in Minnesota over the past 32 years – a period that spans eight presidential election cycles that began in 1988.
Readers can e-mail questions to matt.delong@startribune.com.
PARTY ID
DFL/Democrat 298 (37%)
Republican 244 (31%)
Independent/other 258 (32%)
AGE
18-34 147 (18%)
35-49 230 (29%)
50-64 223 (28%)
65+ 196 (24%)
Refused 4 (1%)
RACE
White/Caucasian 683 (85%)
Black/African American 44 (6%)
Hispanic/Latino 25 (3%)
Asian/Pacific Islander 14 (2%)
Other 25 (3%)
Refused 9 (1%)
GENDER ID
Men 381 (48%)
Women 416 (52%)
Other 3 (<1%)
REGION
Hennepin/Ramsey 260 (33%)
Rest of metro 215 (27%)
Southern Minnesota 155 (19%)
Northern Minnesota 170 (21%)
EDUCATION
High school or less 158 (20%)
Some college/Vocational 251 (31%)
College graduate 256 (32%)
Graduate degree 132 (17%)
Refused 3 (<1%)
2020 VOTE
Joe Biden 388 (49%)
Donald Trump 362 (45%)
Someone else 19 (2%)
Did not vote 5 (1%)
Not sure/Refused 26 (3%)
INTERVIEW
Land line 247 (31%)
Cell Phone 553 (69%)