Gallup: Minnesota ranked 13th in Democratic advantage

According to a Gallup survey of 170,000 adults nationwide, Minnesota ranks 13th in the nation for Democratic advantage just behind New Jersey and ahead of Washington state. Minnesota dipped sharply in 2010 in Democratic advantage only to rebound a bit in 2011.

According to Gallup, Minnesota currently has a 9-point Democratic advantage. Forty-seven percent of Minnesota respondents identified as Democrats or leaning towards the Democratic Party while 38 percent are Republicans or lean Republican. That’s down from a high of 15 advantage points in 2008 for Democrats and 12 points in 2009, but an improvement from a low of four points in 2010.

That gap in 2010 was similar for many states, but Minnesota appears to have rebounded more quickly than others.

Minnesota is the only Midwestern state in the top 15 outside of reliably Democratic Illinois.

Gallup’s poll only shows a snapshot of where adults surveyed in the state stand during the poll’s timeframe, January through June 2011, and says other factors may influence voters.

“The party affiliation estimates are based on the entire state adult population, and do not necessarily reflect each party’s electoral strength within a state,” the pollster said. “A state’s voting electorate may be tilted slightly more to one party than the basic affiliation figures due to differences in turnout between Republicans and Democrats in the state and perhaps the strength of the respective party organizations in the state.”

Listed as most strongly Democratic: the District of Columbia (with 78 percent of respondents identifying as Dems compared to 10 percent who consider themselves GOPers), Hawaii (52 to 28) and Maryland (54 to 33). The top state for Republicans is Utah, where 58 percent identified as Republicans and 27 percent identified as Democrats.