ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A new poll finds many Minnesota voters would at least consider voting for a third-party or independent candidate for president or the U.S. Senate.

The poll is sponsored by Minnesota Public Radio News and the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute.
It finds 77 percent of the state's likely voters say they would consider voting for an independent or third-party candidate, while 21 percent would not and 3 percent didn't know.

The poll also showed support in Minnesota for independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader at 3 percent, while 1 percent supported Libertarian Bob Barr.

In the U.S. Senate race, Independence Party hopeful Dean Barkley registered 8 percent in a tight contest between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and DFL challenger Al Franken.

The telephone survey of 763 likely voters was conducted between Aug. 7 and 17. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

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