Sixty-seven percent (67%) of Minnesota voters now expect incumbent Republican Norm Coleman to beat Democrat Al Franken in the state’s U.S. Senate race, according to a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in Minnesota taken Thursday night.

Just 16% say Franken will win, while 17% are not sure.

Even 54% of Minnesota Democrats believe Coleman will be the winner once the recount of the race is completed, as do 88% of Republicans and 58% of unaffiliated voters. Only 21% of Democrats think Franken will win.

Coleman, who is seeking a second six-year term, was ahead by just 215 votes on Election Night out of 2.9 million ballots cast, triggering an official recount.

Forty-four percent (44%) say it is Very Likely that the winner will not be decided until after New Year’s Day. Only three percent (3%) say that is not at all likely.

Minnesota’s official recount of the race is expected to be finished today, with a state canvassing board hoping to rule on all challenged ballots by December 16. But lawsuits are likely to delay the state’s certification of a winner. If that certification is challenged by either party, the race would be thrown into the Democratic-dominated U.S. Senate Rules Committee.

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Forty percent (40%) of Minnesota voters say all rejected absentee ballots should be counted in the Coleman-Franken contest, while 37% say only those rejected by accident should be included in vote totals. Nineteen percent (19%) say the absentee votes should not be counted at all, with four percent (4%) undecided.

A plurality of female voters by nine points over male voters think all rejected absentee ballots should be counted.

Since Franken has been pushing for the counting of all such votes, it’s not surprising that 64% of Democrats want rejected absentee ballots counted versus 14% of Republicans and 36% of unaffiliated voters. Pluralities of GOP voters (43%) and unaffiliated voters (41%) say only absentee ballots rejected by accident should be counted, but just 29% of Democrats agree. Thirty-four percent (34%) of Republicans say rejected absentee votes shouldn’t be counted at all, a view shared by 20% of unaffiliateds and four percent (4%) of Democrats.

Seventy percent (70%) of Minnesota voters rate the state’s handling of the recount as good or excellent. Just eight percent (8%) say it has been poor.

Republicans and unaffiliated voters are slightly more critical of the process than Democrats. Seventy-seven percent (77%) of Democrats give the state good or excellent marks, but just 65% of unaffiliated voters and 64% of GOP voters agree.

With their lawyer surrogates regularly battling it out publicly, both candidates have suffered somewhat in the eyes of the voters. Coleman is now viewed favorably by 48% of Minnesota voters and unfavorably by 51%: This is an exact reversal of his numbers in the last poll before Election Day. Twenty-six percent (26%) have a Very Unfavorable view of Coleman, compared to 22% at the end of October.

Similarly, 46% have a favorable view of Franken, compared to 47% right before Election Day, and 53% see him unfavorably, up from 51% in the earlier poll. Forty-one percent (41%) regard Franken Very Unfavorably versus 38% in late October.

Women by double digits over men have a more favorable view of Franken and a less favorable view of Coleman. Fifty-two percent (52%) of male voters have a Very Unfavorable view of Franken, compared to 31% of women.

Eighty-nine percent (89%) have been following news stories about the Senate election at least somewhat closely, including 47% who say they’re following them Very Closely. Three percent (3%) are not following the news at all.

Democrats had been hopeful of achieving a 60-Democrat filibuster-proof Senate in last month’s elections, but Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss’ win in Georgia’s Senate runoff earlier this week put that goal out of reach.

In a poll just before Election Day, only 34% of U.S. voters said rule by one political party is better for the country. Forty-five percent (45%) said it’s better if the White House and Congress are each run by a different political party,

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