MINNEAPOLIS — A growing majority of Minnesota voters disapprove of President Donald Trump’s performance in office, setting up a disadvantage for Republicans ahead of this year’s midterm elections.

The Star Tribune/KARE 11/Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication Minnesota Poll found 56% of respondents say they disapprove of Trump, up from 54% last year.

With the entire Minnesota Legislature on the ballot, plus the governor’s office and a U.S. Senate seat up for grabs, Democrats are hoping Trump’s unpopularity and issues like affordability and the war in Iran will give them a boost come November.

Republicans would prefer the election center around outgoing Gov. Tim Walz and the state’s response to fraud in its social services programs — but they are stuck with Trump’s dominance of the news cycle.

“(Trump) talked about affordability, bringing grocery prices down from day one,” said Tracy Harrell, a 62-year-old from Coon Rapids who voted for Kamala Harris in 2024.

“He talked about no new wars,” she said. “Everything that he has said this time around, he has not done any of those things.”

Most of Trump’s disapproval came from Democrats and independents from the Twin Cities metro area.

His approval ratings were stronger outside of the metro area. Some 59% of southern Minnesotans approved of Trump’s performance; 56% of northern Minnesotans did as well.

Kathy Klaers of Ottertail, who supports Trump and voted for him in 2024, is satisfied with the job he’s doing and thinks he needs more support from within his party and from Democrats to move his agenda forward.

“I do think that Trump is doing an excellent job,” Klaers said. “I just think that he needs more backup when it comes to trying to do what he’s doing for the country.”

The president’s approval rating in Minnesota now stands at 41%, down from 45% of Minnesotans who approved of him at this time last year. Many voters have soured on his approach to immigration and the war in Iran, and more than half of Minnesotans disapprove of his handling of the economy.

The Minnesota Poll is based on interviews with 800 Minnesota likely voters conducted from June 8 to 10. The poll’s margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Trump’s low approval rating comes several months after the U.S. and Israel began a war in Iran. The president announced a deal to end the war over the weekend, though its terms have not yet been made public.

More than half of those surveyed in the Minnesota poll were opposed to the conflict. Fewer than 40% of Minnesota voters supported it, and 10% were undecided.

“I believe that was a very unnecessary war,” said Den Gardner, 74, of New Prague. “The plan that was put into place by the Obama administration, I think, was strong. I don’t believe there’s much of anything that’s been positive out of the war (Trump) started.”

While a small segment of the GOP has broken with Trump over the war after he campaigned on ending foreign entanglements, the party faithful in Minnesota remain largely steadfast in its support for the conflict.

Very few Minnesota Republicans oppose the war, while nearly all Democrats oppose it. Half of independents oppose the war, meanwhile, with a third in support.

The poll comes several months after Operation Metro Surge, Trump’s wide-scale immigration enforcement crackdown on the state, which resulted in the fatal shootings of two Minnesotans by federal agents.

Democrats in Minnesota have united around opposing Operation Metro Surge and appear willing to back the most progressive candidates in upcoming Democratic primaries, who they believe will take a firm stand against the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

About two-thirds of Minnesotans said they believe undocumented immigrants should be allowed to stay in the country and have a pathway to citizenship over time. The vast majority of Minnesotans who had this view were Democrats or independents from the Twin Cities metro area.

That view was in stark contrast to that of rural Minnesotans, a third of whom believe undocumented immigrants should be deported.

“Come over here legally. If you walk over a border and you don’t have papers, you are a criminal. It’s a fact,” said Klaers, the Trump supporter in Ottertail. “Go by the rules, do the right thing, and then come in.”

Trump’s second term has been marked by global tariffs, rising gas prices and growing inflation — and Minnesotans are not pleased with those outcomes.

Some 55% of Minnesotans polled said they are dissatisfied by Trump’s handling of the economy, while just a third voiced their approval.

A majority of Minnesotans said increasing prices have been a cause of stress in their households.

Julie Tunheim of Pelican Rapids, who manages a community garden, said all the plots are full with residents growing their own vegetables.

“More people are thinking they should garden because the price of groceries is so high,” Tunheim said.

Grocery prices have increased 2.9% over the past year, according to recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That comes on top of massive inflation in the wake of the pandemic.

Dissatisfaction over Trump’s handling of the U.S. economy was once again determined largely by party affiliation.

Glen Renick of Eagan, who voted for Trump in 2024, thinks that prices going up in the short term may be what’s needed for them to even out long term.

Trump’s conflict in the Middle East immediately spiked gas prices, but the national average for a gallon of gas has fallen for three straight weeks, according to AAA.

“As soon as the prices go down, nobody notices that,” Renick said. “But they’ll pick a few choice items and point to them as examples of how everything’s out of control and Trump has just lost it ... But it’s a price that you have to pay in order for things to work out in the long run.”

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(Allison Kite of The Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.)

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