A Minnesota Public Radio/Humphrey Institute poll released Thursday has Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. John McCain in Minnesota by 10 points. Forty-eight percent support Obama while 38 percent pick McCain, who has not led in Minnesota polling since March. Independent candidate Ralph Nader garnered 3 percent in the poll and Libertarian candidate Bob Barr came in at 1 percent.

If McCain picks Gov. Tim Pawlenty as his running mate, about one in five respondents said they would be more likely to vote Republican. “McCain’s choice of Pawlenty appears to lift his support by 13 points: 25 percent of undecided voters and initial Obama supporters report that Pawlenty’s presence on the ticket would pull them over,” wrote the polls authors. “This could be enough to move Minnesota into the Republican column for the first time since 1972.”

Other highlights:

Fifty percent of the sample identified as Democrats and 36 percent said they were Republicans.

Nine percent of respondents thought that Obama is a Muslim and 42 percent didn’t know he was a practicing Christian. The vast majority reporting those inaccuracies were Republicans.

McCain scored high with Minnesota evangelicals: 57 percent support him while 32 percent support Obama.

Some Republicans said McCain’s age is a problem for them. Twenty six percent of those polled said he is too old to be president including 12 percent of independents and 12 percent of Republicans.

A 10-page report of the poll’s finding is available through the Humphrey Institute (PDF).