Five takeaways from the NYT/Siena polls of Minnesota’s Third and Eighth Congressional Districts Email Facebook Twitter Print

The following article by Sam Brodey was posted on the MinnPost website September 10, 2018:

Credit: MinnPost

A fresh round of polls conducted by the New York Times and Siena College is offering the first clear glimpse into two of Minnesota’s highest-profile U.S. House races: the contests in the suburban 3rd District and in northeast Minnesota’s 8th District.

In CD3, the poll gave a big, nine-point advantage to Democratic candidate Dean Phillips, who is challenging six-term GOP incumbent Erik Paulsen. In CD8, an open-seat race, the poll found Democrat Joe Radinovich with a one-point lead over Republican Pete Stauber.

The NYT/Siena polls were carried out and completed over the weekend, and they featured an innovative twist: The results were posted live, with poll-watchers able to see who preferred Democrats or Republicans in real time. By the time the dust settled, the pollsters had called some 18,675 people in CD8 and actually spoke to 504 of them; in CD3, they contacted 21,046 and reached 500.