Obama's 2008 showing there was disappointing. I don't care how "polarized" Minnesota is; there are more polarized states where he got bigger swings. My answer is yes. Not sharply, perhaps not permanently, but as micro-trends go this is a pretty developed one.
Democrats also just aren't performing up to snuff in the Twin Cities metros. It has one of the smaller Democratic "rings" of comparable northern metros.
Ya, there just hasn't been the erosion in GOP voting strength in the Twin City suburbs that you see in most northern metro areas. It is a bit odd. With the suburbs slowly gaining a greater share of the state population, and the iron range belt slowly losing share, that equates to an overall slow GOP secular trend in my perception. A modest counter trend is the Dem trend in Rochester.
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