At some point after the Minnesota House settles its political stalemate, legislators will start focusing on issues. When they do, lawmakers will find that Minnesotans want them to focus on lowering taxes, addressing health care and stopping fraud in state government spending, according to the latest KSTP/SurveyUSA poll.

“You are getting a public reaction against tax increases,” said Carleton College political analyst Steven Schier after reviewing the survey results. “Now Republicans hope they can use that and ride that through the legislative session and into the next election as a winning issue for them.”

When asked to name what they consider to be the most important issue facing Minnesota lawmakers, 25% said “lowering taxes,” making it the single most mentioned top issue in the survey. It was followed by health care at 21% and stopping fraud in government spending at 20%. Further down the list are education, public safety, legalized sports betting and raising taxes.

On specific tax issues, 67% say gas and fuel tax rates should not go up automatically as Democrats approved when they controlled the House, Senate and governor’s office. Only 21% say those taxes should automatically go up each year to keep up with construction costs.

Minnesota is one of just nine states that collect income taxes on Social Security benefits. In our survey, 69% say state taxes on Social Security should be fully eliminated with only 18% saying the state should continue collecting that tax. Social Security taxes have been partially reduced, but not eliminated, in recent years.

One tax proposal that could get some traction with Minnesotans is Gov. Tim Walz’s proposal to slightly lower the state sales tax while broadening it to include legal, accounting and financial planning services that are currently exempt. However, Schier says that proposal is likely to get stiff opposition from those industries with the argument it could actually mean a tax increase for many Minnesotans.

“It’s possible that some people will end up paying more net in taxes,” Schier says. “It’s very hard to explain that in a survey question.”

Legalizing sports betting is another issue lawmakers hear about frequently and it remains popular. In the new survey, 54% say they support legalizing sports betting and 30% oppose. In the past three years since the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door to more states legalizing sports betting in 2022, support for the idea in Minnesota has never been below 52%. However, the 30% opposition is the highest number recorded in our KSTP/SurveyUSA poll since the court decision. Our first poll on the question in 2022 showed 64% support and only 19% against.

SurveyUSA interviewed 700 adults from the state of Minnesota 01/29/25 through 01/31/25. Of the adults, 620 were identified as being registered to vote and were asked the substantive questions which follow. This research was conducted online, using nonprobability sample of online adult panelists chosen randomly by Lucid Holdings LLC of New Orleans. The combined pool of survey respondents was weighted to US Census ACS targets for gender, age, race, education, and home ownership. The survey included 34% Democrats, 32% Republicans and 29% independents.