Four out of 5 in Fair poll want Viking vote
The Taxpayers League of Minnesota says 79 percent of the respondents to its paper-ballot poll in the State Fair said they wanted a referendum on a sales tax for a new Vikings stadium. Presumably, the guy at left would have been a no.
The poll was admittedly unscientific, according to League president Phil Krinkie. He said the referendum query was one of four questions on a half-sheet questionnaire at the League's grandstand booth. There were, he said, "lots of people sort of nonchalantly walking by, and they'd see 'Stadium Survey,' and they'd make a quick turn and want to fill out the survey."
Krinkie himself has spoken out repeatedly against taxpayer subsidies for a new NFL stadium.
But he says that the thinks their is some validity to the response: "There were people at the state fair who came up and expressed, you know, "I live in Hennepin County and they ran right over us and didn't give us a chance to vote (on the Twins stadium deal)."
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Ramsey County is mulling a vote on its plan to devote a half-cent sales tax to a proposed stadium in Arden Hills.
The Taxpayers League asked three other questions about the Vikings, as well. They included: 1) Do the Vikings need a new stadium? 2) Should state revenue be used to finance a new stadium? 3) Should local taxpayers (i.e. city or county) help pay for a new stadium?
Krinkie said they're still tabulating the poll results on those questions. He said they got about 4,100 responses, and are counting them all by hand.
(AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt)