Minnesota Voters Did Not Want Sen. Franken To Resign

 Senator Al Franken has said he will resign his senate seat in a few days (January 2nd). I am sorry to see him go. He was a reliable voice and vote for progressive causes, and personally, I am not convinced that he was guilty of the accusations leveled against him (too many have come from right-wing extremists, and could be just the right trying to muddy the waters to defend their own sex abuser -- Donald Trump and Roy Moore).

I also think the Democratic leaders who demanded Franken's resignation jumped the gun in an attempt to present the party as pure on this issue of sexual harassment and abuse. It's not pure -- no party is, because sexual harassment and abuse are pervasive in our patriarchal society. However, we should be sure of a person's guilt before tossing them under a bus.

I'm evidently not alone in this opinion. A recent poll showed that Minnesota voters also disliked how this went down. About 53% said they approved of the job Franken was doing. About 50% did not want him to resign. And 60%thought the Senate investigation should have been completed before his resignation was demanded.

Those numbers are from a new Public Policy Polling survey -- done on December 26th and 27th of a random sample of 671 Minnesota voters, with a margin of error of 3.8 points.