Most Minnesotans, including many who consider themselves Republican or DFL, prefer a multi-party to a traditional two-party political system, the latest Star Tribune Minnesota Poll shows.

In the midst of a campaign that features four official "major" parties and a tight three-way race for governor, 57 percent of Minnesotans in a survey completed earlier this month said they think that the state is "better off with more than two strong political parties."

A smaller portion, 34 percent, said the state is "better off with a traditional two-party system."

The hankering for more options exists despite the fact that 77 percent of Minnesotans say they identify with the DFL or the Republican party (44 percent say they consider themselves DFL or lean that way; 33 percent say Republican).

And some political experts say that regardless of whether Tim Penny holds onto the governor's office for the Independence Party (IP) -- thus becoming the first third-party candidate in recent history to succeed another as governor -- a multi-party system will remain viable in Minnesota.

"This is a marvelous finding," said Lisa Disch, a University of Minnesota political science professor and an advocate of policies to encourage third-party growth. "Minnesotans are saying that more competition is better, more meaningful choices are better."

Others say the sentiment expressed in the poll is not all that surprising. Further, if Penny loses in his bid to succeed Gov. Jesse Ventura, and the Independence and Green parties don't elect any legislators or statewide officers, the post-Ventura political world probably will return to its former state.

"People might say they want more than two," said Dan Hofrenning, chairman of the Political Science Department at St. Olaf College in Northfield. "But if they have the options and don't go there, you have to wonder whether [the Ventura phenomenon] will last more than one or two elections."

Special interests

The Minnesota Poll shows that large percentages of Minnesotans think the DFL and Republican parties are too controlled by liberal or conservative interest groups.

In each case, about two in five said that the DFL party was too fragmented by liberal interest groups; a similar proportion also said the Republican Party was controlled by a small group of conservatives with special interests.

Minnesotans' views of the Independence and Green parties, both of which qualify for major-party status and, with it, state public financing, are somewhat more charitable.

About a third, for instance, said the IP was "just another party for those who want to gain power," while almost half said that it "represents people shut out of the process by other parties."

Despite the fact that IP candidate Penny is virtually even in opinion polls with DFLer Roger Moe and Republican Tim Pawlenty, only 8 percent of the poll respondents said they considered themselves Independence Party voters.

Perhaps even more surprising are the positive views of the Green Party, with which only 2 percent of the respondents identified. While 34 percent said the Green Party was "too extreme to be politically effective," a slightly larger number, 39 percent, said that it could be "an agent of change on environmental and social issues." Green Party gubernatorial candidate Ken Pentel is far behind the other three in opinion polls, at about 2 percent.

National attention

Minnesota's potential as an emerging model of multi-party politics is beginning to attract national attention, said Jack Uldrich, Penny's campaign manager, who is on leave as chairman of the Independence Party.

The Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and several other national newspapers have written about the state's anti-establishment populist impulse, another close three-way race and the prospect of a viable multi-party system, Uldrich said.

The Los Angeles Times noted that only one state since World War I has voted to replace one third-party governor with another from the same party. That was Minnesota, in 1936, when Farmer-Labor Gov. Floyd B. Olson died and Farmer-Labor Gov. Elmer Benson was elected to replace him. The Farmer-Labor Party later merged with the Democrats to create the current DFL Party.

Uldrich said that although Penny expects to win, he doesn't need to do so in order to keep the Independence Party viable and "a permanent fixture on the political scene."

Both the Independence and Green parties probably will get the minimum 5 percent votes they need to stay eligible for "major" status and public financing. Well-known, strong moderates who feel rejected by one or the other in future years will see the IP as a natural place from which to begin a campaign, even though the party itself remains small and financially strapped, Uldrich said.

But Bill Walsh, the Republican Party's deputy executive director, said the Independence Party remains a "Gilligan's Island" of castaways.

"If Penny loses, it's going to be a pretty devastating blow," he said. "That party needs to stand for something, and they need an infrastructure."

Pro and con

The arguments around whether states are better served by two-party or multiple-party systems boil down to these:

Consumers love choices, and more parties mean more people will vote and become civically involved, advocates say. In European nations with many parties and coalition governments, voter turnout far exceeds U.S. participation.

Defenders of the status quo say America's tradition of political stability has been well-served by a two-party system. With just two parties, elected officials -- and particularly leaders of the executive branch -- usually come into office with the backing of a majority of the people, giving those leaders a consensus and mandate for action.

Critics of multiple-party government sometimes compare Minnesota to Italy, known for a multitude of parties and frequent political chaos.

And DFL and Republican leaders can point to the constant three-way gridlock that ensnarled Minnesota in the past three legislative sessions, when Minnesota had a Republican-controlled House, a DFL-controlled Senate and an Independence Party governor in Ventura. Each of those sessions went far longer than anticipated, and in 2001, a special session concluded its business within hours of a shutdown of state government.

"I'm not sure folks are remembering the train wrecks at the Legislature," said Larry Jacobs, a University of Minnesota political science professor.

Nevertheless, he said the Minnesota Poll results showing a preference for more choices might be "the death throes for the two-party system."

The emergence of a constant centrist party might tempt DFLers and Republicans to concede the middle and move toward more ideologically pure positions, in an effort to enthuse their base of support and somehow capture a little more than a third of the vote.

"I don't think this is the end of the story for third-party politics," Jacobs said. "It's the beginning."

-- Dane Smith is at rdsmith@startribune.com .

Email Harry: harrywelty

Go to Harry's primary website:   www.snowbizz.com 

or make a contribution to the campaign

This Web page is prepared and paid for by Harry Welty, Welty Volunteer Committee, PO Box 3613, Duluth, MN  55803