Poll: Most Minnesotans don't want Pawlenty to run for president

A new poll finds that a majority of Minnesotans don't want Gov. Tim Pawlenty to run for president in 2012.

The Star Tribune Minnesota Poll conducted last week found 55 percent against Pawlenty running for president, with 30 percent in favor.

Still, the poll also found that half of Minnesotans would consider voting for the two-term Republican governor if he were nominated for president. A quarter of the poll's 1,000 respondents said there was a "good chance" and another 25 percent said there was "some chance."

The poll also looked at Sen. Al Franken, who took office in July after a long contested election. Franken has a job approval rating of 41 percent, with 30 percent still undecided on his performance.

The Star Tribune conducted telephone interviews with 1,000 Minnesotan adults, under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International. The poll does not include interviews with cell phone users.

Interview subjects identified their party affiliation as: 34 percent independent, 33 percent Democrat, 25 percent Republican. Eight percent said they identified with no party or refused to answer.

The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.1 percent. Margins are larger for some groups within the sample, including Democrats and Republicans.

(MPR reporter Madeleine Baran contributed to this report)