Welcome back to Rapp Strategies’ and Morris Leatherman’s MN 2024: Viewpoints series. Today we are looking back at the 2023 legislative session and in particular, what voters across the state thought of work accomplished by the DFL trifecta.

The 2023 session marked just the second time in the last three decades that Minnesota had a single political party controlling the house, senate, and governor’s office. The DFL’s resulting flurry of new legislation included long-held goals such as paid-family leave, cannabis legalization, free school lunches for K-12 students, repealed abortion restrictions, and historic investments in infrastructure, transportation, housing and clean energy. The approved budget was the largest in Minnesota history, buoyed by a record $17.5 billion surplus.

On the other side of the aisle, Republicans loudly criticized the DFL for prioritizing new spending over large-scale tax relief, and greatly increasing regulations on businesses. Looking ahead, the DFL’s long-term electoral success will hinge on how this wave of reform and investment plays out in the eyes of voters.

The results of our survey suggest a majority of Minnesotan approve of many of these decisions. Fifty-nine percent of all Minnesotans agree that the DFL addressed the most pressing problems facing the state in 2023. A majority (55%) are confident that the DFL’s decisions will improve their quality of life in the coming years. Asked specifically about how the DFL used the budget surplus, confidence is still strong: 54% agree that the DFL invested the money wisely.

Finally, sixty-one percent also agree that Minnesota is becoming a better place to live than elsewhere in the United States, yet another indication Minnesota’s optimistic outlook for the state’s future.

This majority support for the DFL’s work is unsurprisingly buoyed by survey participants who identified as Democrats. Self-identified Democrats made up 43% of the survey sample, Republicans 38%, and Independents 17%. But notably, Independent voters viewed the DFL’s decisions very positively – at least two out of three agreed that the DFL addressed the state’s top problems and made wise budgeting decisions during the 2023 session. This may bode well for DFL candidates competing in contested districts in 2024, where independent voters could make or break the party’s hold on the legislature.

Speaking of elections: Next in our series, we will bring you insights into voters’ trust and enthusiasm for President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 election. Don’t miss it!

If you have questions about our findings or want to learn more about how Rapp Strategies and The Morris Leatherman Company can elevate the public affairs strategy of your organization, get in touch at info@rappstrategies.com.

Results are based on Rapp Strategies and The Morris Leatherman Company’s statewide survey, conducted December 8-20, 2023. The study contains the results of a random sample of 800 randomly selected adult residents in the State of Minnesota, interviewed via telephone. Cell phone-only households were 54% of the sample, while landline-only households were 9%. Results of the sample reflect the entire population of Minnesota based on census data. Results were not reweighted, and are projectable to all Minnesotans with a margin of error of ±3.5% in 95 out of 100 cases.