Poll finds Bredesen with 30 percent support among likely GOP voters in Blackburn’s home area

A poll of likely Republican voters in state House District 61, which includes the Brentwood home of U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, indicates 30 percent support Democrat Phil Bredesen over Blackburn in the U.S. Senate race, according to  Tennessee Star. Blackburn had 61 percent support with the rest undecided.

The right-wing website, which has frequently posted articles critical of Bredesen and supportive of Blackburn, says the poll of 361 GOP voters was conducted June 18-22 by Triton Polling. It doesn’t say who sponsored the poll, but presumably, it was conducted for one of the six candidates seeking the Republican nomination in the district, where Rep. Charles Sargent of Franklin is retiring.

In the GOP primary race for Governor, the poll showed Williamson County native Bill Lee leading the field with 32.4% of the vote, followed by Diane Black with 21.3%, Randy Boyd with 16.1%, Beth Harwell with 14.9% and 15.4% undecided.

… In the House primary race to fill the vacancy created by Rep. Charles Sargent’s retirement, (Brandon) Ogles has the support of 24.3% of likely GOP primary voters, followed by: Gino Bulso 13.9%, Rebecca Burke 9.4%, Jeff Ford 6.8%, Bobby Hullett 6.5%, Terrence Smith, 2.2% and the remaining 36.8% undecided.

… In what may be the most surprising information contained in the poll data, Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn leads former Tennessee Governor and Democrat Phil Bredesen by a 61.3% to 30.1% margin, with only 8.6% undecided, in the race for the U.S. Senate. Blackburn has long represented Williamson County in the Tennessee State Senate and Congress, and resides in the 61st District herself.

One political observer noted that Blackburn is falling about 7 points short of the approval rating for President Donald Trump among Republicans in the Brentwood-Franklin legislative district. Trump recently campaign for Blackburn during a Nashville rally. However, Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill points out that Bredesen is getting about the same vote percentage among Republicans in the district that “disapprove” of Trump, 25%.

“The same anti-Trumpers who don’t like the President are not likely to support a candidate like Marsha who backs the President and who he has endorsed,” Gill says. “But lets remember that Trump won the general election race in Tennessee by about 30 points, so a lot of conservative democrats and independents in Tennessee have supported and still support President Trump. Blackburn needs to make it clear that Bredesen doesn’t and won’t support Trump on securing our border, cutting taxes, ending catch and release of illegal aliens, or confirming conservative Judges and Justices. The sooner she does that the better her numbers will look.”

Note: The Star has a second post on the poll, covering issues of concern to those surveyed (illegal immigration and rising crime top the list), and a copy of the question-by-question results HERE.