Trump competitive in Walz home state

 Newsweek:

Recent polls of Minnesota voters point to a close presidential race in the North Star State, as former President Donald Trump could improve on his 2020 showing.

Republicans are hoping to flip Minnesota red for the first time in decades in November amid a close presidential race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Polling for Democrats, which collapsed at the presidential level after President Joe Biden's poor debate performance against Trump in June, mostly recovered after Harris became the nominee. But the race remains close, and the election is viewed as a toss-up by most election forecasters.

In Minnesota, polls suggest Trump may be in a stronger position than he was four years ago, despite Harris picking the state's governor, Tim Walz, as her running mate. Recent polls suggest the race could be decided by only a few points, and polling averages suggest the race could be tighter than it was four years ago.
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Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the Hubert H. Humphrey School and the Department of Political Science at the University of Minnesota, told Newsweek that Trump is still in the race, and that undecided voters could be the difference in Minnesota.

"It's quite possible—in Minnesota and elsewhere—that two-thirds of the 5 percent to 10 percent undecided will break in favor of Trump and tilt the race," he said.

David Schultz, distinguished university professor of political science and legal studies at Hamline University in St. Paul, pointed to a drop in rural support for Democrats over local issues, as well as perceptions that Biden is more moderate than Harris.

"The Minnesota Democratic Party is increasingly more metro-dominated, and it is increasingly alienating and losing rural Democrats much in the same way the national Democrats are losing farmers and rural America because of a host of social issues," he said, adding that some Democratic opposition to mining may be causing voters in the northern part of the state to shift toward Republicans.
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Walz has been caught  in several lies since getting the nomination and has blamed them on his "bad grammar."  That is a feeble excuse for lying.  That Minnesota is in play probably means that the Democrats will have to divert spending to that state.