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Thursday, Sep 24, 2026

Did rural Minnesota counties favor Trump more than rural Iowa and Wisconsin did?

Brian Arola, MinnPost
yes

Rural Minnesota counties were redder than Iowa and Wisconsin’s rural counties in the 2024 presidential election.

Definitions of rural vary depending on the source, but a federal classification of metro and nonmetro counties allows for clear comparisons. In Minnesota, metro counties are mostly those encompassing or near the Twin Cities, Rochester, Duluth, St. Cloud, Mankato and Moorhead.

Voters in nonmetro Minnesota counties, considered rural for these purposes, cast ballots for President Donald Trump by a nearly 30% margin over Kamala Harris in 2024. Comparable counties in Iowa had 29% margins in favor of Trump, while he won by 23% in Wisconsin’s rural counties.

The state with the reddest individual counties, however, was Iowa. The Hawkeye State had four counties with more than 60% margins for Trump. Minnesota’s largest margin for Trump was 56% in Morrison County.

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