Blackburn(R) Statistically Tied with Bredesen (D) in the Tennessee Senate Race

Washington, DC - Today, Ipsos released new election data in partnership with Reuters and the University of Virginia Center for Politics, showing that Republican Marsha Blackburn (47%) and Democrat Phil Bredesen (44%) are tied in the Tennessee Senate race. In the generic ballot question, however, Republicans lead Democrats by 8 points (50% to 42%, respectively), making this close race all the more interesting, as Bredesen appears to be over-performing on multiple partisan measures.

Among likely voters, 53% approve of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as President, as opposed to 46% who disapprove. The top issue in determining the vote in Tennessee is healthcare (17%), followed by immigration (13%) and the economy (12%). On this issue, 40% of likely voters feel that Bredesen has the better policy as opposed to 38% who feel that Blackburn has the better policy. 

Likely voters in Tennessee are more likely to report they do not believe the allegations of sexual conduct against Kavanaugh (48%) compared to 35% who do. When asked, 51% of likely voters support Kavanaugh’s nomination while 39% oppose it. On the issue of the Supreme Court, 41% of likely voters report that Blackburn has a better policy, compared to 32% who report that Bredesen has the better policy.

For more information on Tennessee and other races, please reference the Political Atlas, an interactive website collaboration between Ipsos and the University of Virginia Center for Politics. 

The Political Atlas site provides daily updates of the main issues affecting citizens in all 50 states, along with poll and social media indicators for every congressional, senate, and gubernatorial race in the country, with expert assessments. Bringing this to the midterm election provides further resolution to the ebbs and flows of the campaigns. Ipsos uses machine learning and natural language processing algorithms to collect and categorize over 5 million individual posts a day. 

For more information on this press release, please contact:

Chris Jackson
Vice President, US
Ipsos Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]

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