State Fair poll results: Minnesotans split on fireworks, sales tax

Minnesotans are split on whether to expand the sale of fireworks, according to an informal, non-scientific poll administered by the Minnesota's House of Representative's non-partisan Public Information Services Office.

Roughly 9,000 State Fair goers participated in the annual survey, and 47.8 percent of them say that bottle rockets, firecrackers and other types of fireworks should be legalized in the state. About 45 percent disagree, and about 7 percent were undecided, according to the survey results.

Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed a bill earlier this year that would have made new types of pyrotechnics legal in the state.

Fair goers are also evenly split on whether books and other media bought on the Internet should be subject to a sales tax.

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And questions about whether teachers should fired based on performance, not tenure, received 72 percent support among poll respondents.

Other highlights include:

- Roughly 53 percent believe constitutional amendment ballot initiatives passed by the Legislature should require more votes. Currently, only a simple majority is required to put a constitutional amendment, such as this year's voter ID and marriage amendment questions, on the ballot.

- More than 63 percent of poll respondents believe that liquor stores should remain open on Sundays. About 30 percent do not.

- Nearly 48 percent of fair goers said that a requirement that individuals must retreat before using force, including lethal force, should not be changed. About 40 percent of the respondents said that the rules should be dropped, and 12.6 had no opinion.