Minnesota Poll numbers on immigration

The Star Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio News polled 800 Minnesota likely voters between Oct. 15 and Oct. 17. Highlights from questions about President Trump's immigration and refugee policies are below. Scroll down the page to see details about how the poll was conducted and the demographics of the 800 respondents.

• Oct. 26 poll analysis
• Previous poll results
• Methodology

Overall, do you approve or disapprove of President Trump's handling of U.S. immigration policy?

Approve Disapprove Not sure 42% 52% 6% Approve Disapprove Not sure Hennepin / Ramsey 26% 67% 7% Metro suburbs 50 44 6 Southern Minn. 46 48 6 Northern Minn. 54 41 5 Men 50 43 7 Women 35 60 5 Democrats 2 96 2 Republicans 85 10 5 Independents / other 47 41 12 18-34 33 62 5 35-49 39 54 7 50-64 45 48 7 65+ 48 47 5 Under $50,000 38 56 6 $50,000 and over 46 48 6 Do you support or oppose building a wall along the Mexican border if the U.S. has to pay for it?

Support Oppose Not sure 34% 59% 7% Support Oppose Not sure Hennepin / Ramsey 21% 73% 6% Metro suburbs 42 51 7 Southern Minn. 33 56 11 Northern Minn. 44 51 5 Men 40 52 8 Women 28 65 7 Democrats 6 91 3 Republicans 66 24 10 Independents / other 33 58 9 18-34 26 66 8 35-49 31 62 7 50-64 39 54 7 65+ 37 56 7 Under $50,000 30 63 7 $50,000 and over 35 57 8 Support Oppose Not sure 29% 65% 6% Support Oppose Not sure Hennepin / Ramsey 15% 78% 7% Metro suburbs 22 70 8 Southern Minn. 42 53 5 Northern Minn. 50 47 3 Men 32 63 5 Women 26 67 7 Democrats 4 95 1 Republicans 54 37 9 Independents / other 30 62 8 18-34 26 67 7 35-49 27 66 7 50-64 32 64 4 65+ 31 63 6 Under $50,000 34 61 5 $50,000 and over 26 67 7 Which of the following statements comes closest to your point of view: All undocumented immigrants should be deported; undocumented immigrants should be allowed to stay in the U.S. in order to work, but not allowed to become citizens; or undocumented immigrants should be allowed to stay and become U.S. citizens if they meet certain requirements over time.

All
deported Stay, but not
become citizens Stay, and become
citizens over time Not
sure 12% 31% 50% 7% All
deported Stay, but
not become
citizens Stay, and
become citizens
over time Not
sure Hennepin / Ramsey 9% 29% 58% 4% Metro suburbs 12 35 45 8 Southern Minn. 14 29 48 9 Northern Minn. 14 33 45 8 Men 16 31 47 6 Women 7 32 53 8 Democrats 1 22 73 4 Republicans 20 40 34 6 Independents / other 16 34 38 12 18-34 11 35 49 5 35-49 11 31 51 7 50-64 11 32 49 8 65+ 14 28 50 8 Under $50,000 12 29 52 7 $50,000 and over 13 30 51 6 Between 2007 and 2015, the Minnesota Refugee Resettlement Program took in an average of almost 2,000 refugees per year, mostly from impoverished and war torn countries. In 2016, that number increased to slightly over 3,000, but Trump administration policies reduced that number to about 1,000 last year. Which of the following options do you most support for handling refugee settlement in Minnesota: Maintain the current average of 1,000 new refugees per year; return to the average of 2,000 per year that was normal prior to 2016; increase the average to about 3,000 per year; or temporarily stop accepting refugees?

Maintain
current 1,000
per year Return to
average of 2,000
per year Increase
to 3,000
per year Temporarily
stop accepting
refugees Not
sure 27% 25% 12% 27% 9% Maintain
current
1,000
per year Return to
average of
2,000
per year Increase
to
3,000
per year Temporarily
stop
accepting
refugees Not
sure Hennepin / Ramsey 23% 32% 18% 17% 10% Metro suburbs 31 22 11 30 6 Southern Minn. 24 23 11 28 14 Northern Minn. 32 20 7 35 6 Men 28 22 10 31 9 Women 27 28 15 22 8 Democrats 16 42 24 7 11 Republicans 38 6 0 47 9 Independents / other 30 25 12 29 4 18-34 28 21 19 25 7 35-49 25 29 12 25 9 50-64 27 26 10 30 7 65+ 29 22 11 26 12 Under $50,000 24 25 15 25 11 $50,000 and over 30 26 11 27 6 About the poll

This Star Tribune/MPR News Minnesota Poll findings are based on interviews conducted Oct. 15-17 with 800 Minnesota likely voters. The interviews were conducted via land line (60 percent) and cellphone (40 percent). The poll was conducted for the Star Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio News by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research Inc.

Results of a poll based on 800 interviews will vary by no more than 3.5 percentage points, plus or minus, from the overall population 95 times out of 100. Margins are larger for groups within the sample, such as Democrats and Republicans, and age groups.

The self-identified party affiliation of the respondents is 38 percent Democrats, 33 percent Republicans and 29 percent 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.

Readers can e-mail questions to matt.delong@startribune.com.

Demographic breakdown of this polling sample

PARTY DFL/Democrat 306 (38%) Republican 265 (33%) Independent/Other 229 (29%) AGE 18-34 136 (17%) 35-49 210 (26%) 50-64 237 (30%) 65+ 210 (26%) Refused 7 (1%) GENDER Male 384 (48%) Female 416 (52%) INCOME < $25,000 106 (13%) $25,000-$49,999 119 (15%) $50,000-$74,999 131 (16%) $75,000-$99,999 129 (16%) $100,000+ 140 (18%) Refused 175 (22%) REGION Hennepin/Ramsey 255 (32%) Metro Suburbs 230 (29%) Southern Minnesota 160 (20%) Northern Minnesota 155 (19%) INTERVIEW Land-line 479 (60%) Cell Phone 321 (40%)