MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (OSBORNE) -- A new poll says Republican Congressional Rep. Marsha Blackburn trails Democrat Phil Bredesen in the race for Tennessee’s junior Senate seat, but a clear leader has yet to emerge in the race for governor.
The survey by Middle Tennessee State University shows Bredesen with a ten point lead over Blackburn two months ahead of the primaries and eight months ahead of the General Election.
Poll Director Dr. Ken Blake says it really doesn’t c ome as a surprise that Bredesen would get cross-party support.
“We polled on Bredesen’s approval numbers the whole time he was governor and pretty consistently he enjoyed not only support among Democrats, members of his own party, but also support among independents and also Republicans as well.”
Bredesen has the support of 45 percent of those surveyed while Blackburn has 35 percent. However, Dr. Blake cautions that 17 percent of Tennesseans remain undecided.
The MTSU Poll also took a look at the race to be Tennessee’s next governor.
Results show businessman Randy Boyd and U.S. Congressional Rep Diane Black tied for the lead among Republican candidates. Each garnered 30 percent support among those surveyed.
Democrat Karl Dean leads in the Democratic category with 26 percent support. Dr. Blake says political chaos at the national level may be distracting voters.
“It’s pretty clear the electorate really hasn’t started thinking much yet about this governor’s race. I hope we’ll have more clarity after the primary when we’ve got the field narrowed down to two candidates.”
The MTSU Pollsurveyed 600 registered Tennessee voters and the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus four percent.