DNC video hits Pawlenty on poor Minnesota poll showing

The Democratic National Committee is capitalizing on local news reports on yesterday’s MPR/Humphrey Institute poll which found Minnesota voters disapproving of Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s frequent out-of-state campaign trips. The DNC has compiled a video montage of newscasts on the topic.

The poll found that a majority of voters — 54 percent — disapproved of Pawlenty’s travels; it also revealed that a similar percentage of Minnesota voters — 53 percent — said they’re unlikely to vote for Pawlenty if he runs for president in 2012. Among Republicans, that figure dropped to one in four saying they probably wouldn’t vote for Pawlenty. The two-term governor also fared poorly among likely voters who gauged which GOP canidate would make a better president: 45 percent of respondents preferred Mitt Romney, while 32 percent chose Pawlenty.

“He’s made a lot of hay around the country talking about winning elections and holding support in a Democratic or purple state and these results suggest that he’s going to have to do more explaining and that’s not as simple,” University of Minnesota political science professor Larry Jacobs told MPR yesterday. “Even [those in] the loyal base in his party have real doubts about the job the governor’s doing and whether they’re going to support him.”

In a statement on the DNC’s video, DNC press secretary Hari Sevugan said, “The poll released yesterday and the widespread coverage show that Minnesotans are fed up with Pawlenty putting his own future before theirs.  Over the last year, Minnesotans have seen their Governor sprint to the right to appease a radical fringe in hopes of garnering national attention, issue purely politically motivated orders that only hurt Minnesotans, and spend more time writing his book than spending time in the Governor’s mansion. It’s no wonder the people of Minnesota disapprove of his travel and his job performance and it comes as no surprise that his own constituents support someone else for higher office than they would him.”