Poll finds partisan divide on return of high school sports in Nashville
A poll commissioned by Baker Group Strategies finds 49% of Nashvillians support allowing high school sports to resume play during the COVID-19 pandemic, while 45% oppose.
The feeling was stronger among Republicans, who support a return of sports without spectators by a 72% to 21% margin. Just 38% of Democrats supported a return, while 57% opposed. Fifty-three percent of indpndents support resuming sprots, while 42% oppose. Democrats support is just 38% – 57%. Among Independents support is 53% – 42%.
Here is a breakdown among various subgroups (note that the Baker group is consulting on Republican state Sen. Steve Dickerson’s re-election campaign in District 20):
| SUBGROUP | SUPPORT | OPPOSE | DIFFERENCE |
| Conservatives | 70% | 26% | 44% |
| New Voters | 63% | 31% | 32% |
| Non-College Men | 59% | 35% | 24% |
| Men 45+ | 57% | 39% | 18% |
| State Senate District 20 | 51% | 42% | 9% |
| Moderates | 47% | 45% | 2% |
The phone poll of 500 registered voters found 78% find the quality of life in Nashville to be good or excellent, while 21% said it’s not so good or poor. Among college educated voters, 83% had a positive outlook on living in the city, while 71% of non-college educated voters felt the same.
However, just 37% of voters said they think Nashville is headed in the right direction, while 44% said it is going in the wrong direction.
Polls find support for expanded absentee voting during pandemic
Two polls released Tuesday indicate strong support for expanding voting by mail amid the coronavirus pandemic.
One survey conducted on behalf of Secure Democracy by Republican pollster Anchor Research and the Baker Group found 67% of Tennesseans support allowing all voters to cast absentee ballots while also keeping polling locations open. Another 31% were opposed.
A survey conducted on behalf of Vanderbilt University found 57% support voting by mail, while 42% opposed. The SSRS poll found opinions were heavily influenced by voters’ political leanings. While 81% of self-identified Democrats said they supported absentee balloting, 71% of Republicans were opposed. Among independents, 68% said they were in favor, while 32% were against.
Among other findings, Secure Democracy found a 61% to 33% approval rating for Gov. Bill Lee and a 57% to 43% favorability rating for President Donald Trump.
Vanderbilt had Lee’s approval rating at 64% to 27%, and Trump’s at 51% to 47%.
Vanderbilt polled 1,000 registered voters by phone between May 5 and May 22. It has a margin of error of ±3.8 percentage points. Secure Democracy’s online poll of 740 likley voters was conducted on May 26.
Poll dives into Tenn. attitudes amid COVID-19
A poll conducted by Harvard, Northeastern, and Rutgers universities found 64% of Tennesseans approve of Lee’s handling of the coronavirus response, while 14% disapprove.
The online survey of 513 Tennesseans (41% Republicans, 30% Democrats, and 24% independents) has a margin of error of ±4 percentage points.
Here are some of the findings for the Tennessee portion of the poll:
How concerned, if at all, do you currently feel about the following: – Getting coronavirus yourself:
- Not at all concerned: 14%
- Not very concerned: 18%
- Somewhat concerned: 38%
- Very concerned: 28%
- Not applicable to me: 2%
How much, if at all, has your life been disrupted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak:
- Not at All: 6%
- A little: 13%
- A moderate amount: 30%
- A lot: 22%
- A great deal: 32%
In the last 24 hours, did you get any news or information related to the current coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak from the following sources:
- Friends and family: 49%
- Radio news: 20%
- Podcasts: 6%
- Local TV: 56%
- Network TV: 50%
- Cable TV: 39%
- Late night comedy shows: 8%
I feel well-informed about the current state of the COVID-19 outbreak:
- Strongly disagree: 2%
- Somewhat disagree: 6%
- Neither agree nor disagree: 14%
- Somewhat agree: 48%
- Strongly agree: 30%
Poll: Gov. Bill Lee has 55% approval rating
Gov. Bill Lee arrives for his second State of the State address in Nashville on Feb. 3, 2020. (Erik Schelzig, Tennessee Journal)
Republican Gov. Bill Lee has a 55% approval rating going into his second year in office, according to a new Mason-Dixon poll. Twenty-seven percent of respondents said they disapproved of the governor’s performance, while 18% were unsure.
Lee’s popularity was highest among fellow Republicans, 79% of whom viewed him favorably, while 26% of Democrats had a positive view of the governor. About half of independents approved.
The pollsters also asked respondents how they would vote in head-to-head matchups in the U.S. Senate race. Respondents said they would prefer Republican Bill Hagerty over Democrat James Mackler by 55% to 33%, and Republican Manny Sethi over Mackler by 46% to 35%. Mason-Dixon did not release details on the GOP primary matchup between Hagerty and Sethi.
The poll of 625 registered voters, including 247 Republicans, 207 independents, and 171 Democrats, was conducted between Jan. 28 and Jan. 30. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Poll: Trump has big advantage over any Democrat in Tennessee
New polling results suggest President Donald Trump doesn’t have much to fear in his efforts to carry Tennessee again in November. According to a survey by Mason-Dixon, Tennessee voters give Trump a wide advantage, regardless of who turns out to be the Democratic nominee.
Here are the head to heads:
- Trump 55%, Joe Biden 39%.
- Trump 57%, Bernie Sanders 37%.
- Trump 57%, Elizabeth Warren 36%.
- Trump 55%, Pete Buttigieg 38%.
- Trump 54%, Mike Bloomberg 39%.
The poll of 625 registered voters, including 247 Republicans, 207 independents, and 171 Democrats, was conducted between Jan. 28 and Jan. 30. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Tennessee Super Tuesday presidential primary is on March 3.
Poll: Trump approval rating on the rise in Tennessee
Graphic: Mason-Dixon Polling.
A new Mason-Dixon poll shows President Donald Trump’s popularity is on the rise in Tennessee and three out of five respondents say they oppose efforts to remove him from office.
Trump’s approval rating was 57% in the poll released Friday, up from 54% in April 2018 and 51% in November 2017. Disapproval was a steady 42% in all three surveys.
Trump’s approval was highest in East Tennessee at 61%, compared with 56% in Middle and 53% in West. Ninety-three percent of Republicans approved of the president, while 53% of independents agreed. Just 10% of Democrats approved of Trump’s job performance.
Fifty-nine percent said they opposed the efforts to remove Trump from office. The ratio was higher among men (65% for to 32% against) than women (54%-41%). A near-unanimous 97% of Republicans opposed the president’s removal, as did 56% of independents, and 7% of Democrats.
The poll of 625 registered voters, including 247 Republicans, 207 independence, and 171 Democrats, was conducted between Jan. 28 and Jan. 30. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Vanderbilt poll finds strong support for Gov.-elect Lee
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee speaks at a rally in Franklin on Oct. 17, 2018. (Erik Schelzig, Tennessee Journal)
A new poll by Vanderbilt University finds Republican Gov.-elect Bill Lee coming into office with support nearly rivaling that of outgoing Gov. Bill Haslam.
Here’s the release from Vanderbilt:
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Governor-elect Bill Lee will enter office with a strong favorability rating of 57 percent, with only 22 percent of registered voters holding an unfavorable view, according to the latest Vanderbilt University Poll. The findings also suggest Lee will also find support for some of his initiatives, including expanding vocational training in the state. Meanwhile, health care has surpassed the economy and education for the first time in the poll’s history as Tennesseans’ chief priority for state government.
“Overall, we see support for an agenda that could work for our incoming governor,” said John Geer, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Political Science and co-director of the Vanderbilt Poll. “Education and the economy are strong priorities, as well as immigration and infrastructure.”
“The one worry Bill Lee must deal with is health care, which has risen in importance to Tennesseans,” said poll co-director Josh Clinton, Abby and Jon Winkelried Professor of Political Science. “Although the two are related, health care now takes precedence above the economy to voters here.”
Internal poll finds Alexander with 65% approval rating among Republicans
As U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander mulls whether to run for another term, his pollster has found that the incumbent is “in a strong position” to win the Republican nomination if he runs again. According to the internal poll memo obtained by The Tennessee Journal, Alexander has a favorability rating of 65% among Republican primary voters, compared with just 22% who view him unfavorably.
Alexander’s job performance was rated at 64%-27% among “very conservative” Republicans in the poll, while it was 73%-18% among somewhat and moderate Republicans.
Alexander has said he will decide before the end of the year whether to run again.
The survey of 600 likely Republican voters was conducted Nov. 26 through Nov. 29. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
ETSU poll finds Blackburn-Bredesen tied at 44%
A new poll by Eastern Tennessee State University finds Republican Marsha Blackburn and Democrat Phil Bredesen tied at 44%. That number is fairly consistent with what Bredesen has been polling at in a series of other public polls released this week, but far below the level of support (generally around 50%) that Blackburn has been receiving.
ETSU is unrated by the polling site FiveThirtyEight.com, while the other surveys released this week had ratings ranging from A to B.
The new poll also found Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee was leading Democrat Karl Dean by 47% to 35%.
The survey’s other findings, 52% sayid state is on the right track, while 20% think it’s on the wrong track. Seventy-three percent of Republicans were more likely to say the state was headed in the right direction, compared with 38% of Democrats and 42% of independents.’
The poll of 495 likely voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points based on a projected turnout of 55%.
