Polling from opposite poles: Blackburn leads Bredesen; Bredesen leads Blackburn

A poll commissioned by a pro-Trump super PAC found that  Republican Marsha Blackburn is  ahead of Democrat Phil Bredesen in a potential 2018 general election for a Tennessee U.S. Senate seat, reports the Hill, while a survey sponsored by a Democrat-supporting organization found Bredesen ahead.

The Committee to Defend the President commissioned a poll that showed Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) leading former Gov. Phil Bredesen (D), 43 to 34 percent. Twenty-three percent of voters polled are undecided.

The poll was conducted from Dec. 13-17 and surveyed 500 likely general election voters and 400 GOP primary voters. The margin of error was 4.4 percentage points and 4.9 percentage points, respectively. Blackburn is seen as the early front-runner in the GOP primary and has earned an endorsement from former White House chief strategist and Breitbart News head Stephen Bannon.

But she’ll first need to clear a crowded primary, which also features former Rep. Stephen Fincher. The poll found her overwhelming leading Fincher by 49 points. The other GOP candidates in the race polled at 5 percent or below.

(Update Note: Tennessee Star published a poll Friday showing Blackburn leading Fincher 58 percent to 11 percent. Star hasn’t reported on any general election matchup polling.)

Meanwhile, a poll commissioned in late October by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, was also released on Wednesday. The poll found Bredesen leading Blackburn by 5 points, 46 to 41 percent, according to The Tennessean. Thirteen percent of respondents were undecided.

The DSCC’s poll was conducted more than a month before Bredesen formally entered the race. The survey was conducted from Oct. 20-22 and surveyed 601 likely voters. The breakdown of voters were 42 percent Republicans, 29 percent Democrats and 25 percent independents. The margin of error was 4.1 percentage points.

Note: The Tennessean has separate stories on the two polls. In the case of the poll sponsored by the Trump-backing PAC (HERE), it notes another finding: That Fincher is running behind Bredesen in a theoretical general election match, Bredesen 42, Fincher 30. The DSCC story is HERE.