MINNEAPOLIS — Gov. Tim Walz’s approval rating has reached its lowest point of his tenure as he prepares to leave office, illustrating just how much his political standing has eroded in the wake of Minnesota’s fraud scandals. The DFL governor’s approval rating dropped to 39% in the Star Tribune/KARE 11/ Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication Minnesota Poll. A majority of likely ...

Tim Walz's approval ratings are on par with President Donald Trump's among likely Minnesota voters.

Aaron Lavinsky/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

MINNEAPOLIS — Gov. Tim Walz’s approval rating has reached its lowest point of his tenure as he prepares to leave office, illustrating just how much his political standing has eroded in the wake of Minnesota’s fraud scandals.

The DFL governor’s approval rating dropped to 39% in the Star Tribune/KARE 11/ Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication Minnesota Poll. A majority of likely voters disapproved of Walz’s performance, while 8% were undecided.

Notably, Walz’s support has slipped among Democrats and Minnesotans who backed him and Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. Last year, 91% of Harris voters in Minnesota said they approved of Walz’s performance as governor. Now 69% say they do.

Walz abandoned his re-election campaign in January amid scrutiny of his administration’s response to ballooning fraud. He did so as many fellow Democrats expressed doubts about his viability for a third term.

The Minnesota Poll’s findings suggest Walz will leave office in a far weaker position than he occupied for most of his time in office. It was only three years ago that the governor celebrated a historic Democratic sweep of state government and was seen as one of his party’s rising stars.

Now, his approval rating is on par with President Donald Trump’s as Minnesota voters of all stripes show their dissatisfaction with his leadership.

Jason Gilbert, a 45-year-old patent lawyer from Inver Grove Heights, said he voted for Walz twice and backed Harris two years ago. But Gilbert said he soured on the governor over the years, taking issue with Walz’s response to the 2020 riots and with how he presented himself during his vice-presidential run.

“He just seemed super fake,” Gilbert said. “I’m over this whole polished, focus-grouped politician.”

The governor’s plummeting popularity could prompt more Democrats to distance themselves from him on the campaign trail ahead of this year’s midterm elections. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the DFL-endorsed candidate for governor, has already drawn a careful line between herself and Walz, saying she would have acted more quickly to stop fraud and made some different spending decisions.

The Minnesota Poll’s findings are based on interviews with 800 Minnesota likely voters conducted from June 8 to 10. The poll’s margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Walz maintained statewide approval ratings above 50% for most of his first six years in office. But his standing weakened after a tumultuous two-year stretch that included his unsuccessful run for vice president and mounting scrutiny of fraud in Minnesota’s social services programs.

Walz’s approval rating has declined across much of the state since last summer. About 7 in 10 voters in greater Minnesota now disapprove of his performance, according to the poll.

“He allowed all this fraud to happen when he was warned that things were not right,” said Kevin Amundson, a 76-year-old conservative from Rochester.

Amundson also objected to laws signed by Walz that allowed undocumented immigrants to obtain state health care coverage and college tuition assistance.

“I’m kind of embarrassed when I tell people I’m from Minnesota,” said Amundson, who winters in Palm Springs.

Walz’s support has also fallen sharply among Twin Cities residents.

The state’s fraud crisis has emerged as a major concern for voters. A majority of respondents said they were “very concerned” about the level of fraud in state social services programs, while another 27% said they were “somewhat concerned.”

Asked which party they trusted more to reduce fraud, 45% of respondents chose Republicans while 38% favored Democrats. Fourteen percent said they don’t trust either party.

The results suggest Democrats could face skepticism from voters on the issue, which Republicans are hammering in their campaign messaging. Only 21% of independents said they trusted Democrats more to reduce fraud. However, a third of independents said they didn’t trust either party.

Some in the poll said they felt Minnesota’s fraud problem has been overblown.

Gilbert said he thought a viral video alleging widespread fraud in Minnesota’s child care assistance program was meritless. The video was posted by conservative influencer Nick Shirley in December. Gilbert said he wouldn’t expect day care businesses to allow a stranger like Shirley inside.

Jacqueline Biel, of Plymouth, said she believes the state’s fraud problem has been misrepresented by national Republicans who want to damage Walz’s reputation.

“I don’t think lightly of it,” Biel, 61, said. “But do I think it’s just exclusive to Minneapolis … or Minnesota? No.”

Biel, who works for a statistics company, said Walz might have “been a little negligent” and overlooked the problem. But that shouldn’t overshadow the investments Walz made during his tenure, she said.

“The kids eat free here,” she said, referring to a law signed by Walz providing free school meals to all students.

“All in all, he’s a good guy.”

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