But Swanson only has a slender advantage over Tim Walz.

After NBC/Marist polling on Wednesday gave an indication of sentiment towards President Trump and this year's congressional mid-terms, results released on Thursday took a closer look at Minnesota's governor race.

With five major candidates fighting for their party's nomination – Lori Swanson, Tim Walz and Erin Murphy for the DFL, and Tim Pawlenty and Jeff Johnson for the GOP – next month's primaries are proving an intriguing prospect.

This is most apparent on the Democratic side, where Swanson, Walz and Murphy are locked in a tight battle for the nomination.

According to the Marist poll, it's Swanson who has the advantage with 28 percent of likely Democratic voters, but this is only just ahead of Rep. Tim Walz with 27 percent.

State Rep. Erin Murphy meanwhile has 13 percent support. Among potential Democratic voters, Swanson has 28 percent support compared to Walz's 24 percent.

On the Republican side, it looks like Minnesota's former governor Pawlenty has the edge over former gubernatorial candidate Johnson, with the poll finding Pawlenty has a 49 percent to 34 percent lead over Johnson among likely voters.

Among potential voters his margin is even larger, 51 percent compared to 32 percent.

Meanwhile in the U.S. Senate race, GOP State Sen. Karin Housley has her work cut out for her if she's going to dislodge Sen. Tina Smith from her seat in Congress.

Smith, who took over Al Franken's seat upon his resignation, leads Housley by 49 percent to 35 percent.

Smith is still to face a DFL primary challenge from former White House lawyer Richard Painter.