Minnesota Poll numbers on Gov. Mark Dayton

The Star Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio News polled 800 Minnesota likely voters between Oct. 15 and Oct. 17. Highlights from questions about Gov. Mark Dayton's job performance are below. Scroll down the page to see details about how the poll was conducted and the demographics of the 800 respondents.

• Oct. 27 poll analysis Previous poll results Methodology

Mark Dayton is nearing the end of eight years as governor of Minnesota. Overall, do you approve or disapprove of his job performance during his two terms in office?

Strongly
approve Somewhat
approve Somewhat
disapprove Strongly
disapprove Not
sure 30% 27% 15% 26% 2% Strongly approve Somewhat approve Somewhat disapprove Strongly disapprove Not sure Hennepin / Ramsey 42% 28% 11% 16% 3% Metro suburbs 26 26 16 31 1 Southern Minn. 27 24 22 25 2 Northern Minn. 22 26 16 33 3 Men 27 25 17 30 1 Women 34 27 14 22 3 Democrats 58 34 6 - 2 Republicans 4 16 26 52 2 Independents / other 25 28 14 31 2 18-34 34 26 16 22 2 35-49 32 26 14 26 2 50-64 29 27 17 26 1 65+ 27 27 15 28 3 Under $50,000 35 26 17 19 3 $50,000 and over 28 26 16 29 1 The Minnesota Poll has been tracking Mark Dayton's job approval as governor since 2011.

Approve Disapprove Undecided May 2011 54% 20% 26% Nov. 2011 52 31 17 Sept. 2012 53 31 16 Feb. 2013 45 34 21 June 2013 57 31 12 Feb. 2014 58 29 13 Sept. 2014 46 45 9 Oct. 2014 49 42 9 March 2015 54 36 10 April 2017 62 29 9 Oct. 2018 57 41 2 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%)