Lori Sturdevant, StarTribune
When did Minnesota Nice give way to Minnesota distrust?
Andi Egbert and Kassira Absar from the American Public Media (APM) Reseach Laboratory didn’t have a precise answer for that question. But they had plenty of other numbers from their 2017 Ground Level project indicating that distrust of civic institutions — especially of public education, state government and (gulp) the news media — is now rampant in this state.
And distrust runs deepest among Minnesota fans of President Donald Trump.
Those data were on display at the annual Minnesota Policy Conference on Oct. 11. That confab, now in its 34th year, gathers state and local government folk to talk about their shared challenges. Its agenda usually steers clear of partisan politics. The attendees tend to be keen to stay on government payrolls no matter which party is in power.
