Minnesota Exit Polls Results: LIVE Coverage of Minnesota Election Results

Impact

In Minnesota, most presidential polls show President Obama leading by 5 - 10 points. But after an October 29 Star Tribune poll showed that Obama’s lead had dwindled to within the margin of error, both campaigns were sent into a last-minute hustle to secure undecided Minnesota voters.  Republican vice presidential nominee U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan appealed to voters in the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport on Sunday, while former President Bill Clinton touched down briefly in St. Cloud a few hours later.

Republicans are hoping a last-minute surge will net them their first Minnesota win in ten presidential elections, but the Obama campaign remains confident they are in the lead. In fact, Obama’s national campaign manager David Axelrod stated he’d shave off his famous moustache if Obama loses the state.

In the U.S. Senate race, incumbent Amy Klobuchar is expected an easy victory over challenger Kurt Bills. While the U.S. House race between incumbent Michele Bachmann and challenger Jim Graves has pulled closer over the last few months, a recent Star Tribune poll shows Bachmann with a six-point lead in the state’s conservative district 6. The other up-for-grabs U.S. House seat is in Minnesota’s district 8, where Republican Chip Cravaack faces a formidable opponent in former Rep. Rick Nolan.

In a twist, the two closest races statewide may be the two ballot initiatives facing Minnesotans. Amendment One, which would limit the state constitution’s definition of marriage to being between a man and a woman, has recently polled at 45% in support, with 52% opposing. Minnesota would be the first state to oppose a same sex marriage amendment of this nature – 32 states have previously passed such measures. Amendment Two, which would require voter identification in the state has also turned a recent corner, with 46% in support and 51% opposed. 

PolicyMic will be covering the 2012 election from the state of Minnesota live. For live updates, bookmark and refresh this page.

UPDATE 12:27 AM Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak and his mother crowd-surfed after hearing of Obama's reelection tonight. Un-REAL levels of awesome present on Election Day 2012. 

12:24 AM The marriage amendment is still too close to call, but MPR reports that the Voter ID amendment is poised to fail. I'm too tired to find you a Carlton gif, rest assured I'm enthused by this news. 

11:03 PM Update from CBS affiliate WCCO. With 37% of precincts reporting, the marriage amendment is polling at 49% NO, 46% YES. Voter ID is polling at 50% NO, 46% YES. And in MN-6, Jim Graves leads Michele Bachmann leads by just 402 votes, Jim Graves takes his first lead in count over Michele Bachmann. Graves is at 51%, 402 votes separate the two.

10:20 PM It's TIME!! MSNBC and CNN call the whole ball of wax for Obama. Four more years! 

10:01 PM One of my favorite feminist bloggers just called it "Senate Christmas." 

9:42 PM The snippet of Senator Klobuchar's victory speech was just shown on local station Kare-11. Klobuchar, who received widespread bipartisan support, wisely stated, "We don't vote for extreme ideologies, we vote for common sense." 

9:28 PM With only 10% of polls reporting, the same sex amendment is polling at 56% "No." All pundits agree that the only important thing is the location of the polls that have been reported. Inner city areas and first-ring suburbs are expected to reject the Amendment, while greater Minnesota and outer-ring suburbs will likely pass it. 

8:58 PM MPR is reporting that the marriage amendment is polling at 60.5% NO to 38.0% YES with 2.8% precincts reporting. This is great news for those in support of gay rights, but we'll of course need those numbers to continue skewing that way as additional polls come in.

8:57 PM ABC News has declared an Obama victory in Minnesota! Stay tuned for full numbers and breakouts.

:04 PM CBS projects that Senator Amy Klobuchar will win her reelection bid against challenger Kurt Bills. Klobuchar, long considered a shoo-in for reelection, is the first Democratic Senator since Progressive favorite Paul Wellstone to win a second term.

7:50 PM No Will.I.Am holograms yet, but most seem to be in agreement that CNN is still the best MSM whipping boy:

7:43 PM Less than twenty minutes remain before polls close in Minnesota, but remember - anyone who is in line by 8 PM is eligible to vote!

7:27 PM Amendment Two, also known as the "Voter ID amendment," is also controversial. Military veterans and their supporters have expressed outrage that if passed, military IDs would not be accepted as proper identification. Active military IDs do not state where the service member lives. For more information on the voter ID amendment and why many veterans oppose it, read this Star Tribune article.

7:17 PM While my social media feeds certainly weren't all rainbows and roses in 2008, I've noticed a large increase in discord today. Surprisingly, the arguments weren't over party lines, but rather over Amendment One, Minnesota's same-sex marriage ballot initiative. My news feed was as full of accusations of discrimination as it was with pro-equality images like this:

It's clear that Minnesota Amendment One is the state's most emotional vote in recent memory. Here's my editorial on why Amendment One will be defeated.