Democrat Hubert Humphrey, III has seen his margin evaporate over the past couple of weeks as Reform Party candidate Jesse Ventura's support level has surged 50 percent.

Statewide, 34 percent of likely voters say they will vote for Humphrey next Tuesday, 33 percent back Republican Norm Coleman, and 23 percent say they'll go with Ventura (up from 15 percent).

COMPARISON TO PREVIOUS POLLS

Forty-five percent have a positive view of Humphrey (down 11 points), while 33 percent have an unfavorable opinion (up 10 points); 42 percent have a favorable opinion of Coleman and 26 percent an unfavorable opinion.

Ventura's positive rating has swelled to 41 percent (from 33 percent earlier in the month).

When voters were asked for whom they'd vote if Ventura were not running, 42 percent said they would vote for Coleman, 41 percent would vote for Humphrey and 17 percent were undecided, suggesting Ventura's support is split fairly evenly between the other two, with slightly more coming out of Coleman's side of the ledger.

In the Attorney General's race, DFL candidate Mike Hatch leads Charlie Weaver, 44 percent to 31 percent.

RESULTS

QUESTION : I am going to read you the names of several individuals who are active in 
public life.  After I mention each name, I would simply like you to tell me if you
recognize that individual.  If you do recognize a name, I will then ask you if you have
a favorable, unfavorable, or neutral opinion of that person.

QUESTION: If the 1998 election for Governor were held today, would you vote 
for Hubert Humphrey III, the DFL Party candidate; Norm Coleman, the Republican; 
or Jesse Ventura, the Reform Party candidate.  

	State	Men	Women	Mps/St. Paul	Non -Metro
Humphrey	34%	29%	39%	37%	31%
Coleman	33%	36%	30%	37%	29%
Ventura	23%	24%	22%	19%	27%
Undecided	10%	11%	9%	7%	13%

QUESTION : If Jesse Ventura were not in the race, for whom would you vote: 
Hubert Humphrey III, the DFL Party candidate or Norm Coleman, the Republican?

Coleman	42%
Humphrey	41%
Undecided	17%

 

QUESTION: If the 1998 election for Attorney General were held today,
would you vote for Mike Hatch, the DFL Party candidate or Charlie Weaver, 
the Republican?

	State	Men	Women
Hatch	44%	40%	48%
Weaver	31%	35%	27%
Undecided	25%	25%	25%

POLL METHODOLOGY
The Mason-Dixon Poll was conducted by Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research, Inc. of Columbia, Maryland from October 23 through October 25, 1998. A total of 816 registered Minnesota voters were interviewed statewide by telephone. All stated they regularly vote in state elections.

Those interviewed were selected by the random variation of the last four digits of telephone numbers. A cross-section of exchanges was utilized in order to ensure an accurate reflection of the state. Quotas were assigned to reflect the voter registration distribution by county.

The margin for error, according to standards customarily used by statisticians, is no more than plus-or-minus 3.5 percentage points. This means that there is a 95 percent probability that the "true" figure would fall within that range if the entire population were sampled. The margin for error is higher for any subgroup, such as a gender grouping.


SAMPLE FIGURES
Men: 412 (50 percent); Women: 414 (50 percent)

REGION
Minneapolis-St. Paul: 440 interviews
Rochester/Southeast: 95 interviews
Southwest Minnesota: 92 interviews
Northwest Minnesota: 92 interviews
Duluth/Northeast: 97 interviews

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Poll Copyright 1998, Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved