Minnesota Poll: Most Republicans support cuts to Medicaid, federal research grants

A new poll finds most Minnesota Republicans support the Trump administration’s cuts to scientific research, and potentially to Medicaid.

The latest Star Tribune/Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication Minnesota Poll found that 74% of Republican and Republican-leaning voters support cuts to federal research grants, compared with only 4% of Democrats. A similar divide exists over proposed cuts to Medicaid, which could reduce taxpayer spending but jeopardize health benefits for thousands of Minnesotans.

David Morris, 79, approved of proposed Medicaid cuts and President Donald Trump’s job performance, even though the retired Bemidji assistant principal opposed cuts to federal research funding. Research produced cutting-edge therapies that treated his wife’s metastatic lung cancer, he said.

“Otherwise I’m a very conservative Republican, but we’ve got to do research to keep people alive,” he said.

(Scroll to the end of this article for full results for each question. More information about the poll methodology, a demographic breakdown of the sample and a map of the poll regions can be found at startribune.com/methodology.)

A majority of Minnesotans are concerned about the impact of cutting Medicaid, which uses federal and state tax dollars to provide health benefits to 71 million Americans who are low-income or have disabilities. The Minnesota Poll showed 54% opposition to plans by Trump and Republican leaders in Congress to cut $600 billion from Medicaid over 10 years.

Political support has been a concern for Republican lawmakers weighing these cuts. The results of the Minnesota Poll suggest they aren’t at much risk of alienating their voter base, even though 20% of Minnesotans receive their health benefits from Medicaid and its usage has increased in rural counties that tend to vote Republican. The program is commonly known as Medical Assistance in Minnesota.

Many Republicans believe cuts to Medicaid will be achieved by eliminating wasteful spending rather than removing people from the program, said Liz Hamel, vice president and director of public opinion and survey research at KFF, a Washington D.C.-based health policy center. Eliminating waste tends to be an easier position to maintain.

“Most people do think that fraud, waste and abuse are big problems in Medicaid,” she said. “But an even larger share think fraud, waste and abuse is a big problem in private health insurance plans. So, I think people just generally associate fraud and waste with health care in this country.”

Other polls show more uncertainty among Republicans in their views, though. KFF’s nationwide tracking poll in May showed overall support for Medicaid cuts among Republicans, but that 44% worried they could leave children and adults without health insurance. Among Democrats in the KFF poll, 94% shared that concern.

Similarly, this latest Minnesota Poll found that 76% of Republicans supported cuts to Medicaid, while only 7% were opposed and 17% were unsure. Democrats were more resolved: 93% opposed the Medicaid cuts while 3% supported them and only 4% were unsure.

Voters in the metro counties outside Hennepin and Ramsey were divided on Medicaid cuts — 47% opposed while 43% backed — and cuts to research grants, 48% opposed while 40% supported.

A separate poll released Wednesday by the Minnesota Department of Health found broad opposition to Medicaid cuts as well.

VFW bartender Andrew Robertson said he strongly opposed cutting Medicaid. The 40-year-old Chaska Democrat said he was angered earlier this year when Trump administration cuts to the Veterans Affairs health system disrupted benefits for veterans he served.

Given “huge deductibles” in his own private health plan, Robertson said he worries how Minnesotans in poverty will afford medical care without Medicaid.

“Health care is already ridiculously expensive in this country and they’re cutting the coverage for the people who can’t afford it the most?” he said.

Few questions in the Minnesota Poll generated as much uncertainty as the one about federal cuts to scientific research and public health grants. About 9% of Minnesotans, including 19% of Republicans, didn’t know if they supported or opposed these cuts.

Corey Thaemart said it was a difficult question, because he doesn’t want to see funding stripped from vital medical research. But the 33-year-old Republican from Lester Prairie agreed with Trump’s cuts of studies on topics such as gender transition and research overseas.

“We have more important things to fund over here,” he said.

The Trump administration operated outside typical contract and legislative processes earlier this year in making some of the cuts, leaving them open to legal challenges, including by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. That likely contributed to public confusion.

The Minnesota Department of Health initially took steps to fire 170 workers after the Trump administration cut more than $220 million in COVID-era grants intended to sharpen the state’s response to infectious diseases. But the state only ended up canceling a few contracts and dismissing part-time workers after court challenges intervened and state budget decisions allowed the department to retain many full-time workers.

Only about one in four poll respondents said they or someone they knew had been directly affected by the Trump administration’s reduction of the federal workforce.

Some of those cuts didn’t last, either. A dozen workers were dismissed in February from the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, but court actions restored their jobs a month later.

Mark Lindquist represented a minority position in the Minnesota Poll: a Republican who opposed the research and proposed Medicaid cuts.

The cybersecurity specialist from Plymouth said that a nation with so much wealth can afford an ambitious research agenda and an accessible Medicaid program, even if financed by reducing an income tax deduction that has helped him in the past.

“I’m willing to take that hit for Medicaid,” he said.

Mason-Dixon Polling and Strategy Inc. interviewed 800 Minnesota registered voters between June 16 and June 18, 2025. Findings from questions about federal budget and workforce cuts are below. Totals may not add up to 100% due to rounding. Details about how the poll was conducted, the demographics of the 800 respondents and a map of the Minnesota regions used in this poll can be found at startribune.com/methodology.