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Our theatres have gone dark and our souls are poorer for it. But don’t forget: The artists are literally poorer.
It was the first week of March, and I had just gotten back to Minneapolis after a long day flying back from D.C. where I was covering the Super Tuesday election night returns. I did not really think much of it at the time — government guidance was still to not wear a mask, and […]
The Minnesota precincts to watch on Election Day
There’s a bit of everything in this list that Minnesota election analysts will be watching closely, including a variety of suburbs, small rural towns, etc. The big questions are whether areas that voted for President Barack Obama and then for Donald Trump flip back to the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party; whether the Democrats can push even farther […]
Analysis: Population, demographic and voter registration data are ominous for the Minnesota GOP
Minnesota has not been the fastest growing state in the nation, but the North Star State has grown at a steady clip over the past decade, with most of the growth in the Twin Cities metro. And, there have even been some pockets of population loss in rural areas. As we consider the state’s politics, […]
Analysis: Partisanship, geographic divide could hinder COVID-19 response
America’s editorial writers, centrist pundits and think tank talkers have long decried the loss of civic trust in American institutions like government and the press, as well as the polarization that drives our politics today. Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam wrote an entire book about the decline of civic engagement and took it as a given […]
These four counties show how Minnesota politics has changed while remaining stubbornly light blue
The past few election cycles have seen massive shifts in the geographic balance of the two major parties, typified in the polarized Minnesota map of voting patterns in the 2016 presidential election. The trend follows familiar developments that happened in other states much earlier — Democrats winning urban areas while Republicans consolidated their hold on […]
Presidential primary voting starts in Minnesota today. What do polls and data tell us?
Want to see the maps? Check out our slideshow at the bottom of this story. Minnesotans may not be first in the nation in the presidential race like Iowa, but we will be first to go to the polls. That’s because early voting starts Friday, 46 days before our March 3 presidential primary. Without good […]