According to a Minnesota Star-Tribune poll , Minnesota voters are ready for the endless Senate recount to be over. Close to two-thirds believe Republican Norm Coleman should have given up after the trial court decision earlier this month, and only relatively narrow majority of 57 percent of Republicans support Coleman’s appeal to the state Supreme Court. But voters are so tired of it all, many say that if Coleman prevails on appeal, Franken should bow out:
Nearly two-thirds of Minnesotans surveyed think Norm Coleman should concede the U.S. Senate race to Al Franken, but just as many believe the voting system that gave the state its longest running election contest needs improvement.
A new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll has found that 64 percent of those responding believe Coleman, the Republican, should accept the recount trial court’s April 13 verdict that Democrat Franken won the race by 312 votes.
Only 28 percent consider last week’s appeal by Coleman to the Minnesota Supreme Court "appropriate."
Large majorities of those polled said they would oppose any further appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Should Coleman win at the state Supreme Court, 57 percent of respondents said Franken should concede. And 73 percent believe Coleman should give up if he loses at the state’s highest court.
"I voted for Coleman, but this thing has gone on way too long," said Mike McCombs, 50, a Lakeville furnace and air conditioning salesman. "Obviously, the Republican Party is trying to keep Franken’s vote out of the United States Senate. We should get another [senator] in there."
The random telephone survey of 1,042 Minnesota adult produced a sample consisting of 20 percent Republicans, 36 percent Democrats and 37 percent independents, with 6 percent offering no self-identification. The poll has a margin of sampling error of 4 percentage points, plus or minus. ….
Public fatigue with the Senate contest, now nearing the end of its sixth month, reverberates through the poll’s findings.
Although 57 percent of Republican poll respondents approve of Coleman’s appeal to the state Supreme Court, the same portion of Republicans want him to quit should he lose there.
Half of all Democrats polled also think Franken should concede if Coleman wins before the state high court, while only 38 percent prefer that the DFLer take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Independents would be more patient with a Franken appeal than one by Coleman, but a majority of that group think that either should call a halt once the Minnesota court rules.
