A brand new poll from the Beacon Center in Tennessee has Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on her way to the governor’s mansion in the general election for the seat in November 2026, which is only a few months away. Blackburn is ahead of Democratic nominee Jerri Green in a race to succeed two-term Gov. Bill Lee with a 55% to 34% margin among likely voters in the state.
A summary of the poll from Beacon says that Blackburn’s “Big lead comes after a hard-fought and divisive Republican primary against Congressman John Rose and state Rep. Monty Fritts that left some bruised feelings within the party, but any lingering divisions have not yet dented her standing heading into November.”
The poll took a survey of the U.S. Senate race in Tennessee as well, which is a showdown between GOP incumbent Bill Hagerty and Democrat Marquita Bradshaw in a rematch of their contest from 2020. The race has an even wider spread than the one for governor, with Hagerty pulling in 58% support compared to Bradshaw’s 33%.
According to a report from Breitbart News, the Beacon poll also covered approval ratings, with a downward trend for President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Trump’s approval rating has, unfortunately, gone underwater for the first time ever in Beacon’s history, with 48% approving and 51% disapproving, which isn’t good news this close to the midterm elections.
Justin Owen, CEO of Beacon, commented on the development, saying, “This is a substantial development in a deep red state with a number of potentially competitive races this year. While Trump is barely underwater with voters, this is a monumental shift from his 30-point victory here just two years ago.” The poll also took a hypothetical look at the 2028 presidential election cycle.
It examined a potential matchup featuring Vice President JD Vance against failed Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Kamala Harris, both of whom dominated hypothetical presidential primaries in the Volunteer State. Vance took the top spot for Tennessee Republican primary voters with 56% of the vote. Coming in second was Secretary of State Marco Rubio with 22% and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in third with 11%.
For the Democrats, Harris was their top choice with 30% of the vote, followed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom with 18%. Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg came in third with 11% and Democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came in fourth with 10%. Sen. Mark Kelly pulled up the rear with 8% of the vote.
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In some good news for the GOP, the Republican Party has a +26% approval, with Democrats having a +10% approval. Independents were closer to the GOP side with an approval of +21%. One of the big issues for voters according to polling data is data centers, however, most felt they did not have enough information to form an opinion either way.
“Facilities now commonly called data centers have existed in some form for more than half a century, yet only 4 percent of Tennesseans correctly say ‘more than 50 years,’ while a plurality (38 percent) guessed they’ve only existed within the past five years, and 31 percent say they’re not sure,” the Beacon poll said in its results.
“The truth of the matter is that, regardless of your personal views, data centers and AI are here to stay,” Owen stated. “With so much misinformation circulating about them, we wanted to see how Tennesseans really feel about their impact before policymakers at all levels of government rush to respond with potential regulations.”
Watch AOC whip out a bonkers new accent when trying to rally voters here: