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Welcome to The Topline, a weekly roundup of the big numbers driving the Minnesota news cycle, as well as the smaller ones that you might have missed. This week: Christian nationalism in Minnesota; state leads on expansion of ballot access; Mankato’s surveillance state; and USAID freeze to cost Minnesota farmers $70 million.
Support for Christian nationalism dips in Minnesota
The Public Religions Research Institute’s second annual Christian nationalism survey finds that 24% of Minnesotans adhere to or support those beliefs, down slightly from 28% the prior year.
Christian nationalism, in brief, is a belief in the primacy of Christianity in law and politics. Adherents support statements like “the U.S. government should declare America a Christian nation”; “U.S. laws should be based on Christian values”; and, “God has called on Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of society.”
Majorities of supporters say immigrants are “invading” the country and “replacing” our cultural and ethnic background, and that society is becoming “too soft and feminine.” Christian nationalists are also much more likely to endorse violence as a solution to political conflict.
Minnesotans are somewhat less likely to hold these beliefs than Americans as a whole. The states with the highest support for Christian nationalism include Oklahoma (51%), Mississippi (51%) and Louisiana (50%). The lowest support is found in coastal liberal strongholds like Oregon and Massachusetts, where around 15% of people hold those views.
Christian nationalism is strongly linked to religious beliefs: Nearly two-thirds of white Evangelicals support Christian nationalist views, along with more than half of Hispanic Protestants and 40% of Black Protestants. Only 10% of the religiously unaffiliated support Christian nationalism.
The survey also found that 13% of Minnesotans believe political violence can be justified, and 14% support the constellation of conspiracies known as QAnon, which among other things posit that a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles control government, media and finance. Those shares are slightly lower than U.S. averages.
Minnesota notches highest score on 2024 election progress scorecard
Minnesota made the biggest strides among the states on expanding access to the ballot box in 2024, according to a recent report from the Institute for Responsive Government, a non-profit that supports making voting easier.
Among other things, legislators passed the Minnesota Voting Rights Act, intended to protect against racial discrimination in voting. The state also worked to implement policies passed in 2023, including automatic voter registration and pre-registration for teenagers.
Sam Oliker-Friedland, executive director of the non-profit, said in a statement that “Minnesota is showing what it looks like to put partisan politics aside and pursue the many commonsense reforms that will make our elections more secure and accessible and strengthen our democracy as a whole.”
By contrast, several states made it harder to vote or took power away from voters. New Hampshire enacted “one of the most burdensome voter registration laws in the country,” according to the Institute for Responsive Government, and passed legislation requiring more frequent purges of voter rolls.
Louisiana instituted a proof-of-citizenship requirement and criminalized individuals providing absentee ballot assistance to more than one person unless the person is an immediate family member.
Mankato’s sprawling surveillance regime
The Mankato Free Press reported last week on the city’s massive network of surveillance cameras, which police and city council members are hoping to beef up with artificial intelligence and plug into a national law enforcement network.
Authorities have installed 541 cameras citywide since 2005, amounting to one camera for every 83 residents. There is an additional network of cameras in the city’s public school buildings, and both networks provide live feeds to the Blue Earth County Justice Center.
“Blue Earth dispatch actually monitors our cameras 24/7,” city IT director Doug Storm told the paper.
The city now wants to add automatic license plate tracking to make it easier to monitor vehicles. Proposed AI enhancements will also purportedly make it easier to track potential criminal suspects. Police would be able to enter queries like “Give me anybody wearing a red shirt and blue jeans within that timeframe,” according to Mankato public safety director Jeremy Clifton.
City Council officials appear enthusiastic about the proposed upgrades, which would cost around $130,000 and involve tens of thousands in annual subscription fees. “At this price, ‘How fast can you buy them?’ is my thought,” said council member Jessica Hatanpa.
Shuttering USAID will cost Minnesota farmers tens of millions
The Star Tribune reports that the effective end of USAID will cost Minnesota farmers about $70 million in sales of sorghum, wheat and peas. The international aid agency is a major purchaser of food crops, distributing them through its Food for Peace program.
One USAID employee told the paper that about half a billion dollars worth of food, enough to feed 36 million people, is currently sitting in warehouses or in transit and at risk of spoiling as a result of the Trump administration’s order.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Angie Craig said the abrupt shutdown “hurts the rural economy and damages the proud heritage of American farmers feeding the world.”