Nicollet County voters express dissatisfaction ahead of Election Day

NICOLLET, Minn. — When you look closer at how Nicollet County has voted, things get interesting.

In 2012 the county went for Democrat Barack Obama by just under 8%. Fast forward to 2016 and you see Republican Donald Trump won the vote there by 3%. Then in 2020, Democrat Joe Biden won by 3%.

So how are people there feeling about this year?

Inside Schmidts Meat Market, despite the bustling lines and bursting meat cases, there was a lot of anxiety and uncertainty.

"The issue with John Deere, that they are going to move jobs to Mexico and there are probably going to be a lot of unemployed people," Mark Elling said.

Those jobs that might be moved are not from Minnesota but from Iowa and Indiana, but for the Ellings, it is another sign of tough times.

While the Ellings say they are undecided voters, farmer Mark Ellings is intrigued by a Trump proposal.

"He said if they do move to take jobs to Mexico he would put 200% tariffs on what's brought back here," he said.

Lisa Palmquist was the only committed Trump supporter WCCO met.

"Everything from gas to health care to car repairs is so much more than it has been," she said. "I would like to go back four years ago to what I saw with the Trump administration."

Nicollet County has swung with the winner in at least the last four presidential elections, but there was a lot of dissatisfaction.

"The way it's been going the past four years, it doesn't seem to benefit anybody," Randy Geertsema said. "I am not really too enthused about either candidate."

Nicollet County sits just over an hour southwest of Minneapolis. The last census in 2020 counted the population there at just under 35,000 people.