Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

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Wisconsin Republicans said no to Donald Trump in a big way Tuesday. Some saw the presidential primary vote as a sign of problems to come. But Trump supporters in Minnesota are keeping the faith.

"He's the only one that's addressing my concerns right now and being willing to say stuff about them," said Trump backer Wally Andress.


An investment accountant from Golden Valley, Andress, 51, said that while he's upset the government keeps getting bigger and more expensive, illegal immigration is his biggest concern. Foreigners, he said, are driving down wages and taking jobs from American citizens.

"If you hear somebody say, 'Well you know illegal immigrants are the only ones who will pick vegetables for $5 an hour.' Well, if they weren't there to pick them maybe the owners of these fields would have to pay an American $10 an hour because there wouldn't be anybody to pick his vegetables for him," Andress said. "It would probably cost us more when we go to the grocery store, but at least I know it's going in an American who needed a job."

Election 2016

 is not going to hurt Trump's changes of winning the GOP presidential nomination, Andress added. "I think there's way too many people who are fed up with the Republicans in Washington and the so-called elite establishment people who really are disconnected with what's going on."

Andress said he's never voted for a Democrat. That's not the case for Trump supporter Marilyn Geller, who runs a daycare with her daughter in Bemidji, Minn.


Geller, 61, said she's a Democrat who's voted for Paul Wellstone, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. But she likes Trump's tough talk about illegal immigration and thinks he'd up the fight against terrorism.


"You know [he] doesn't really talk about how he's going to take care of it," she said. "But I think people think that, you know, because he is so adamant about it and because he is so anti what has been done previous to take care of ISIS, I think people are thinking that, yeah, maybe he will."

National polls suggest about two out of three Americans are angry with government. The depth of voter frustration caught a lot "experts" off guard this election cycle, said University of Minnesota political science professor Kathryn Pearson. 

"Journalists, political scientists, pollsters, I think a lot of people just missed how angry the electorate is," she said.

The belief that Trump is a decision maker who would not be captive to special political interests holds a lot of appeal to Geller.

"He doesn't owe anybody anything," she said. "He doesn't have to give anybody any favors and it seems like in the political field people depend on other people's money to get them through and then, in turn, owe them favors."


That's a big deal for many Trump supporters, including Scott Gregory, a 35-year-old Republican who sells mortgages in Edina and likes that Trump is self-funding his campaign and would not be a "sellout like the rest."

Gregory says the GOP has consistently let him down and he's had enough.

"I want to see change. I think the establishment has had their time," he said. "It's kind of like going back to the same girl that keeps breaking your heart. How many times do you keep going back to that person? You know, at what point do you say, 'I'm done with you.' That's kind of the point where I think I'm at."

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Wisconsin Republicans said no to Donald Trump in a big way Tuesday. Some saw the presidential primary vote as a sign of problems to come, but Trump supporters in Minnesota are keeping the faith.

Trump backers in Minnesota say he's still their man

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Trump backers in Minnesota say he's still their man

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