Good news and good ideas from Minnesota's diverse communities

by ALYSON CLARY | Nov. 23, 2021

“What is the single most positive thing happening in your community right now?”

This question is one of two open-ended questions that we asked as part of our Minnesota’s Diverse Communities Survey and it emerged early in the process of designing our survey instrument. As part of this project, Ka Vang (Director of Community Impact and Engagement, MPR) and her team held listening sessions with BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) Minnesotans throughout Greater Minnesota. One of the most consistent pieces of feedback they received was: BIPOC Minnesotans want the media to feature them in stories about positive things happening within their community and not just feature them when there is a negative story to tell.

The Minnesota’s Diverse Communities Survey also asked Minnesotans their opinion on the overall quality of life in the state and what one thing they would like to see change to improve the state. After looking at the results, what becomes clear is that no community is a monolith. Patterns certainly emerge—COVID-19 and racial justice issues are particularly prominent—but what concerns Minnesotans and what they take pride in and feel hopeful about differs considerably between communities as well as within them.  

These results are discussed in greater detail in the sections that follow.

1. Overall quality of life

2. Like to see changed

3. Most positive thing

Minnesotans’ rate the overall quality of life in the state

A strong majority of all Minnesotans (84%) rate the quality of life in the state either excellent or good, including 85% of White Minnesotans and 76% of BIPOC Minnesotans. While there is variation, this majority persists across all racial and ethnic groups surveyed.

Eighty-eight percent of non-Hmong Asian Minnesotans and 87% of Latinx Minnesotans rate the quality of life in the state as either excellent or good. These percentages are roughly equivalent to that of White Minnesotans who rate the state positively (statistically the percentages are tied since they fall within the margin of error).

Although Indigenous (70%), Hmong (64%) and Black (62%) Minnesotans positively rate the quality of life in the state at lower proportions than non-Hmong Asian, Latinx and White Minnesotans, a still solid majority of each group rates the quality of life in Minnesota either excellent or good.  

White (30%) and non-Hmong Asian Minnesotans (26%) are more inclined to rate quality of life in Minnesota excellent.

Nearly one-third each of Hmong (32%) and Black (30%) Minnesotans rate the quality of life in the state fair. One-in-10 Indigenous Minnesotans (11%) rate quality of life in the state poor, the highest proportion of all groups surveyed. Black Minnesotans (8%) are the only group that comes close to the proportion of Indigenous Minnesotans who give a poor rating.

Intriguingly, men (34%) rate quality of life in the state excellent at a somewhat higher rate than women (24%). More specifically, there is a large discrepancy of 13% points between Black men (2%) and Black women (15%) who give a poor rating.

There is no discernible difference between residents who live in the Twin Cities and those who live in Greater Minnesota when it comes to their quality-of-life rating; strong majorities of both Twin Cities residents (85%) and Greater Minnesota residents (82%) rate the quality of life in the state positively. However, there is a difference along political lines.

Significantly higher proportions of Democrats (89%) and political independents (93%) rate the quality of life in Minnesota positively than the three-quarters of Republicans who did the same. One-third of Democrats (34%) rate the quality of life in the state excellent, compared to 23% of Republicans and 12% of political independents.

What Minnesotans would like to see changed to improve the state

We asked Minnesotans to indicate what one thing they would most like to see changed to improve the state. The results reveal that no group, especially BIPOC Minnesotans, has a consensus on their priorities for the state and their communities.

The most common themes to emerge from responses to this open-ended question concern racial and social justice (11%); reducing taxes and tax reform (8%); addressing political partisanship or political imbalance perceived by the respondent (7%); community relations and divisiveness (7%); and police reform, including defunding the police (7%).

Among BIPOC Minnesotans, there is some convergence of opinion around issues of racial and social justice (16%), police reform (14%) and addressing community violence (14%). But rates of response vary among racial and ethnic groups under the BIPOC umbrella. One in five Black Minnesotans prioritize police reform, but this rate is nearly double the next highest rate, 12% of non-Hmong Asian Minnesotans, and four times the lowest rate, 5% of Hmong Minnesotans.

White Minnesotans are even less unified around a single priority. Eleven percent mentioned racial or social justice, 9% are in favor of tax reform and 8% are in favor of decreasing partisanship. These are the answers with the highest rates of response among White Minnesotans.

Among some groups, the highest proportion of their answers falls in the catchall “other” category. One-quarter of Indigenous Minnesotans and 1 in 5 Latinx Minnesotans and White Minnesotans gave a variety of answers that were lumped together as “other.” Themes that emerged from those answers were marijuana legalization, better healthcare access and environmental protection; none of these themes were mentioned by more than 1% or they would have been coded as a separate category.

When analyzing the results by other demographics, the same idea holds true: there is not much consensus within and among different demographic groupings. The opinions of Republicans in Minnesota coalesce around several issues somewhat more than is the case with other groups: 15% of Republicans want tax reform; another 15% want decreasing partisanship; 10% want political and election reform; and 9% want more safety and less crime. Half of Republicans in Minnesota prioritize these four topics.

Only two major issues are supported by 10% or more of Democrats in Minnesota. Nineteen percent of Democrats want to see a move towards increased racial equity and social justice, and 11% of Democrats in Minnesota want to see some type of police reform.

The most positive things happening in Minnesota’s diverse communities

We asked Minnesotans to identify the single most positive thing happening in their community in Minnesota right now. They gave a wide range of answers to this question and, even more so than with the previous open-ended question, there was not much consensus within and among racial and ethnic groups on what that single thing is. Nonetheless, intriguing patterns did emerge in the data.

BIPOC Minnesotans, in general, emphasized different things as positive occurrences than White Minnesotans did. This may have been influenced by a slight difference in how the question was framed depending on the racial or ethnic identity of the respondent. While BIPOC Minnesotans were asked about the most positive thing happening in their communities (e.g., “What is the single most positive thing happening in Minnesota’s Asian community right now?”), the question was reframed slightly for White Minnesotans, who were asked their opinion of the most positive thing happening in the state.

White Minnesotans were more inclined to identify issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic as the most important thing currently happening in the state: 14% felt COVID-19 vaccinations and the decreasing death and case rates was the most positive thing happening in the state, and another 13% felt that the easing of pandemic restrictions was the most positive thing currently happening. There was, however, a substantial partisan split between these two answers. Overall, Democrats (16%) were more inclined than Republicans (8%) to feel positive about the vaccinations, and Republicans (20%) were more inclined than Democrats (6%) to feel positive about easing of restrictions.

Complete list of ‘positive things’ offered by survey respondents (excel spreadsheet)

BIPOC Minnesotans, in general, named community involvement (11%), the growing awareness of racism and engaging in anti-racism efforts (9%), and cultural celebrations and awareness (7%) as the most positive things happening in their communities. However, 40% of BIPOC Minnesotans answered either that there was nothing positive currently happening in their communities, that they did not know how to answer, or simply refused answer; twice the rate as among Whites.

Detailed results by race and ethnicity

In spite of the general difference in answers from BIPOC Minnesotans and White Minnesotans, there are two points of overlap; the first between Black and White Minnesotans and the second between Indigenous and White Minnesotans.

Twelve percent of Black Minnesotans and 7% of White Minnesotans answered that police reform and the conviction of Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd are the most positive thing happening right now in their community or the state. Notably, no members of any other racial or ethnic group provided responses that would fall in this category.

Somewhat similarly, 14% of White Minnesotans and 6% of Indigenous Minnesotans claim that the most positive thing currently happening is the COVID-19 vaccination campaign and subsequent decline in deaths and cases. White Minnesotans, however, are alone in identifying the easing of COVID-19 restrictions as the most positive thing happening in the state; 13% of White Minnesotans gave this answer compared to only 1% of BIPOC Minnesotans.

Two points of relative convergence among BIPOC Minnesotans stand out: community involvement and cultural celebrations or cultural awareness.

Eleven percent of BIPOC Minnesotans say that the most positive thing happening in their communities is an increased sense of unity and involvement, compared to only 2% of White Minnesotans. Hmong Minnesotans (14%), in particular, were more likely to give this answer than either Indigenous Minnesotans (5%) or White Minnesotans.

Seven percent of BIPOC Minnesotans provided an answer that falls into a category of cultural celebrations or increased cultural awareness compared to less than half a percent of White Minnesotans. Even so, there is considerable variation among BIPOC respondents. Indigenous Minnesotans (16%) and Hmong Minnesotans (14%) have the highest rates of answers that fell into this category, followed by Latinx Minnesotans (10%) and, lastly, non-Hmong Asian (5%) and Black (3%) Minnesotans.

More than one in 10 Black (12%) and non-Hmong Asian (13%) Minnesotans note that increasing awareness of racism and anti-racism efforts are the most positive things happening in their communities. Awareness of racism was only mentioned by one in 20 Latinx (4%) and White (5%) Minnesotans.

Seven percent of Black Minnesotans say the most positive thing happening in their community is the opening or reopening of business and community support of those businesses. This is a rate significantly higher than the 3% of White Minnesotans who answered similarly.

Indigenous Minnesotans (6%) note that increasing employment and educational opportunities is the most positive thing happening to members of their community. By comparison, only 2% of White Minnesotans suggested this was the most positive thing happening in the state.

Hmong Minnesotans (6%), in particular, emphasize civic engagement as the most positive occurrence in their community at a rate significantly higher than Latinx (1%), non-Hmong Asian (<1%) and White Minnesotans (2%). Five percent of Black Minnesotans also identify civic engagement as the best thing happening in their community. While this proportion is not big enough to be confidently identified as a statistically significant difference, this changes slightly when looking at the breakdown of this answer by gender. A significantly larger proportion of Black men (9%) than Black women (1%) provide this answer, and the proportion of Black men is also significantly larger than that of Latinx men (1%) and White men (1%).

Nine percent of White Minnesotans noted that nicer, particularly warmer, weather was the single best thing happening in the state at the time the survey was administered. White men (10%) gave this answer at a rate twice that of White women (5%).

Unfortunately, 40% of BIPOC Minnesotans responded either that there was nothing positive happening in their community, that they didn’t know what to answer or refused to answer the question. Twenty-one percent of White Minnesotans felt the same. Latinx (55%), Indigenous (37%) and Hmong (35%) Minnesotans were most likely to avoid a positive response to the question.

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