The Minnesota Vikings stadium debate is likely to be front and center when lawmakers return for the 2012 session in late January. Next year is also an election year, when every seat in the Legislature is on the ballot.

That could leave tough decisions for lawmakers who worry the Vikings could leave the state but who also see polls that show most Minnesotans oppose public funding for a stadium.

Gov. Mark Dayton has been consistent about his support for a new Vikings stadium. Throughout the 2010 campaign for governor, Dayton said that he supported a “people’s stadium” that would serve the needs of the public and the Vikings. He called again for a new stadium after he won the election even before he took the oath of office.

As to the anti-stadium sentiment reflected in the polls, Dayton said he’s pushing forward with the plan anyway “because it’s right for Minnesota.”

“It’s going to create thousands of jobs,” he said. “That’s the responsibility of leadership, to look beyond the immediate polling data and say what’s right for the state.”

While Dayton has already survived one election as a pro-stadium candidate, some people running for office now are running on their opposition to a new stadium.

Among them is Peter Wagenius, a Democrat running in a special election for the Minnesota Senate. The DFL-heavy district he aims to represent includes northeast Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota and the Cedar Riverside neighborhood.

Wagenius said the DFL primary on Dec. 6, will be a referendum on the stadium.

“The system is rigged against the middle class and it’s rigged against the priorities that they care about,” he said. “And the tax system is rigged against the middle class. They pay more while people of privilege pay less and less. That also applies to people with political power and money and clout at the Legislature. The stadium is a symptom of the broader problem.”

One of Wagenius’s DFL opponents, former city council member Paul Ostrow, supports using public money for a stadium.