Accused woman abuser and sharia law sympathizer Keith Ellison is now trailing in the race for Minnesota Attorney General. Republican Doug Wardlow has now surged ahead by seven points according to the latest poll from leftist propaganda outlets Minnesota Public Radio and the Star Tribune.
Of 800 likely voters polled last week, 43 percent said they preferred Wardlow, an attorney and one-time state legislator, while 36 percent said they support Ellison, who has served the 5th District in Congress for the last 12 years; 16 percent said they were undecided in the race, a 2-point drop from the earlier poll.
In September, Ellison held a 5-point lead over Wardlow.
Wardlow remains relatively unknown to voters — 56 percent of those polled said they don’t recognize his name. Eight in 10 voters said they recognized Ellison’s name, but more said they had an unfavorable opinion of him than Wardlow.
Thirty-five percent of respondents said they recognized Ellison’s name and viewed him unfavorably, while only 8 percent said the same of Wardlow.
The results say more about Ellison’s weakness than Wardlow’s strength, said Brad Coker, CEO and managing director for Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, which conducted the survey.
“When you’re a candidate running for office with that high profile and your favorable rating is more than 10 points under your negative rating, typically that means you don’t have a whole lot of room to grow your support base,” Coker said.
Ellison continues to have an edge among women voters and younger voters, ages 18 to 34.
Carol Lowe of Richfield has voted for Ellison in past congressional contests and plans to do it again in this year’s attorney general race.
“I was unhappy with the accusation from his ex-girlfriend,” she said. And while I definitely support survivors and I definitely believe much of what is in the news, this one didn’t just ring true as much. So, that didn’t dissuade me from supporting him.”
It’s been nearly 50 years since a Republican was Minnesota’s attorney general. Walter Rockenstein, a poll respondent from Minneapolis, happened to have worked in the office at that time under former Republican Attorney General Doug Head.
He also worked for Head’s successor, DFLer Warren Spannaus. Rockenstein said he supports Ellison and was offended by Wardlow’s recent remarks about wanting to fire 42 Democrats as he enters office and replace them with Republicans.
“I was really turned off by that comment,” Rockenstein said. “I think that’s the wrong approach to the way you run the attorney general’s office.”
