Monday a.m. update: How Minnesotans consider Trump
Welcome to Monday and good morning. Here’s what you need to know as you start a fresh week.
Another mild, late-winter day. The Twin Cities will have patchy fog Monday morning with daytime highs in the mid-30s and 5 to 10 mph winds. Nighttime lows in the upper 20s. Statewide, highs in the 30s with a chance of light snow in the northwest. At night, lows between 18 and 24. The light snow could move west and southwest. More on Updraft. | Forecast
Just over half of Minnesotans disapprove of President Trump. To be specific, 52 percent of Minnesotans said they disapproved of the president in the new MPR News/Star Tribune Minnesota Poll. Trump had a 44 percent approval rating, with 4 percent of respondents saying they’re undecided. As you might expect, Trump’s approval rating is polarized along party lines.
And for the Democratic presidential primary, there’s a slight hometown edge. Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar has 29 percent support among her constituents, putting her just ahead of national front-runner Bernie Sanders, who’s at 23 percent support. Elizabeth Warren was at 11 percent support with everyone else in the single digits, per the Minnesota Poll.
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After his Nevada win, Sanders is the clear Democratic leader. How’d the independent U.S. senator do it? Here’s how NPR’s Domenico Montanaro explains it: “[He did it by broadening his coalition beyond his base of young voters and progressives. Sanders won the popular vote in Iowa, the New Hampshire primary and now the Nevada caucuses. The man who calls himself a democratic socialist and has been seemingly running as an outsider all his life is now the inside man.”
The Northern Metal fire is finally extinguished. The metal recycling facility near Becker burned for days and worsened air quality in the region.
This isn’t the first time Northern Metal has put the public’s health at risk. The company was kicked out of Minneapolis and paid a $2.5 million settlement for pollution allegations. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said over the weekend that Northern Metal “does not have metal collecting and storage practices in place at either location (Becker or Minneapolis) that protect the health and welfare of Minnesota residents.”
Farmers might get a break from the Trump administration. But as the AP reports, the president’s tariff fights are the reason why he may tap federal funds to provide aid to farmers again: “The Trump administration over the past two years has committed to providing farmers with $27 billion in assistance. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has said that a third year of financial assistance would not be necessary since China had committed to increasing its agriculture purchases under a trade deal.”
Mo Richards Tarot Cards vs. Post-It Notes. What are you picking? The latest round of our contest for Minnesota’s most-loved thing is ready for your votes.
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