Donald Trump is on track for the best Republican showing in Minnesota in more than a decade, according to survey results released Sunday, potentially bringing a purple hue back to a state that has been blue in recent years.
Hillary Clinton now leads Trump in the state by six percentage points, 44 percent to 38 percent, according to the survey conducted by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. That’s an improvement of seven points from earlier in the year, when Clinton led by 13 points.
If the margin holds, Trump will have a better showing in the state than either of the last two Republican nominees. Mitt Romney lost the state to President Obama in 2012 by 52 percent to 45 percent. Arizona Sen. John McCain performed even worse, losing the state in 2008 by 54 percent to 44 percent, despite the party’s nominating convention being held in St. Paul that year.
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Ken Martin, Minnesota’s Democratic Party chairman, noted Trump was gaining support even without investing in the state. “We always thought this race would tighten, not only around the country but in Minnesota. The key point is, Donald Trump has no campaign on the ground here, no field staff.”
The last Republican presidential candidate to do as well was President George W. Bush, who lost Minnesota by just four percentage points in 2004 and three points in 2000. The last Republican to win Minnesota in a presidential election was Richard Nixon in 1972, giving the state the longest Democratic streak of any in the country.
