Poll: 22 Percent in Minnesota Say Franken Shouldn't ResignBy Brian Freeman | Wednesday, 22 Nov 2017
Only 22 percent of Minnesotans said Sen. Al Franken should remain in office following sexual harassment allegations leveled against him, according to a KSTP/SurveyUSA poll released on Wednesday.
Another 33 percent said he should resign, while 36 percent said he should wait for results of a Senate Ethics Committee investigation.
Other results of the survey show:
Although there were only minor differences between males and females on the question, there was quite a disparity according to party affiliation.
Among Democrats, 34 percent said he should remain in office, 14 percent said he should resign and 46 percent said he should wait for the results of the investigation.
Among Republicans, 12 percent said he should remain in office, 61 percent said he should resign and 18 percent said he should wait for the conclusion of the probe.
When asked if Franken will be effective if he stays in office, 32 percent of those polled said he would be, while 37 percent said he would not be effective and 32 percent said they were not sure.
Franken's approval rating has plummeted from 53 percent last November to only 36 percent. Minnesota's other senator, Amy Klobuchar, has an approval rating of 56 percent. President Donald Trump's approval rating in the state is 31 percent.
Franken has said that he does not plan to resign, although he has not made any public appearances for nearly a week.
However, following the poll, his deputy chief of staff Ed Shelleby released a statement from Franken:
"I know I've let people down and disappointed a lot of people — many Minnesotans, my family and my friends," Franken said in the statement. "To all of them let me say I'm so sorry. And I hope you know I'm committed to regaining your trust."
The poll was conducted between Nov. 20 and 21 among 600 Minnesota adults across the state. It includes 23 percent of respondents who identify as Republicans, 25 percent Democrats and 44 percent independents. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 4.1 percent.
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/poll-us-minnesota-al-franken/2017/11/22/id/827697/