Two members of the GOP running to replace the retiring U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) have released their own separate polls concerning which Republican leads the race for the primary election and by how much.
Both polls tallied wildly different results.
Bill Hagerty’s campaign released a poll that said he leads opponent Manny Sethi by 17 points.
But Sethi’s campaign released a poll showing Hagerty instead leads his opponent by two points.
Bill Hagerty’s Poll
Hagerty’s poll, which his campaign released July 1, sampled 651 likely Republican voters between June 28 and June 30 of this year.
That poll, Hagerty’s campaign said, found the following:
• Hagerty stands with a 17 point lead over the field in the Republican primary election. Forty-six percent of Republican primary voters indicate they would vote for Hagerty, while 29 percent would vote for Sethi.
• Hagerty has a double-digit advantage among primary voters in the Nashville, Knoxville, Memphis, and Tri-Cities media markets. Hagerty dominates the ballot among the most conservative parts of the primary electorate, according to Hagerty’s poll.
• Hagerty gets more than 50 percent of the vote among four of four primary voters, age 65 and older, those who strongly approve of the job U.S. President Donald Trump is doing, strongly pro-life voters, and voters who get their news and information from FOX News.
• Fifty-seven percent of Republican primary voters in Tennessee know that Trump endorsed Hagerty. Among those Republicans who are aware of Trump’s endorsement, 58 percent will vote for Hagerty, the poll said.
• Hagerty’s name ID among Republicans across the state is up at 91 percent, and there are 72 percent of Republican primary voters who have a favorable impression of Hagerty, the poll said.
• Primary voters throughout Tennessee believe Hagerty is a true conservative. Two-thirds of Republican primary voters across the state indicate they believe that Hagerty shares their conservative beliefs and principles.
Manny Sethi’s Poll
Members of Sethi’s campaign released their poll Tuesday. That poll showed Hagerty has 33 points, while Sethi had 31 points.
“New polling from this past week by our campaign shows Dr. Manny Sethi statistically tied with Bill Hagerty, with just 11 days until Early Voting Begins,” according to a memorandum the Sethi campaign released to the press Tuesday.
“When our campaign went on TV at the beginning of June, we showed Bill Hagerty with a lead of 27-11.”
Among those who have seen, read or heard about the race, Sethi does 12 points better than Hagerty among voters who are much more likely to vote for a candidate, according to the Sethi campaign poll.
The Sethi campaign said it surveyed 800 likely Republican primary voters in Tennessee on June 30 and July 1 with a blend of cell phones and land lines.
Additionally, of voters who have a strong view of the candidates, Sethi’s very favorable image is 5 points higher than Hagerty’s very favorable image. Exactly 34 percent of voters have a very favorable view of Sethi, compared to only 29 percent of voters who have a very favorable view of Hagerty, according to a press release Sethi released Tuesday.
“Of voters who have a strong view of the candidates, Dr. Manny’s very favorable image is 5 points higher than Bill Hagerty’s very favorable image,” according to the Sethi memorandum.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Manny Sethi” by Manny Sethi. CC BY-SA 4.0.
Hagerty is the Washington Establishment choice , a Romney clone stuffed shirt. I don’t trust this faker at all. We don’t need another career politician who talks Tennessee when he goes home to Tennessee but votes Washington when in the Senate.
This man was Romney National Campaign Finance Chairman in 2008.
If he wins I’ll choose him over a Democrat any day however I’m voting for Dr. Manny in hopes of sparing Tennessee of this cleverly packaged charlatan..
I agree the gun over the shoulder was a little much for me.Too staged . It’s Dr. Manny for me.Thanks Julie,I thought I was the only one who felt like barfing over that ad.
I will take the unknown over the very obvious stuffed shirt elitist.
If were only as simple as that. What you are “taking” when you vote for the Chairman is someone who having done NOTHING for the conservative movement thinks he can plunk down about $1.5 million in order to purchase for himself a fairy tale about his being this Rambo conservative so that he buys himself a seat in the U. S. Senate.
Now I ask you ragtop, how can we conservatives ever expect to get plutocrats to pony up money for conservative candidates so that they stand a chance against the Republican Establishment candidates if we let the Chairman Manny’s of the world get away with this kind of thing. Think of the future ragtop and the conservative movement and vote AGAINST Chairman Manny.
Hagerty is just a gopE/RINO Clone. Sorry PDT chose to get in this Primary. Hagerty is a known backer of Jebra!, Marco and a big Haslam buddy. AUTOMATIC disqualifier for me.
I will take my chances on Dr Manny. If it doesnt work out, we boot him next election but another Mittens in the Senate? No, PDT doesnt need that
Sethi’s poll shows the front runner is the 36% that aren’t voting for either Sethi or Hagerty. Barely a third of likely voters interested in either one.
If DR Manny had seemed more on top of the Coronahoax as a medical professional and the non-science behind the PCR “tests”, the stupid, non-medical-grade mask mandates and not advocating for Gates/Fauci/CDC vaccines as soon as available…I might not be in the 36%.
Clinton, Haslam, Lee…..whether it’s local or national, I think I’ve had my fill of politicians named Bill. Sethi will get my vote.
Picking a U. S. Senator because you have a prejudice against the first name of his opponent stemming from the behavior of persons totally unrelated to that opponent. Actually, that’s the most coherent reason for voting for Chairman Manny that I have heard.
John a reason for you to reconsider is the fact that Chris Devaney painted the fairy tale that people liked so much they voted for BILL Lee who was totally unqualified to be Governor. Now Chris is doing the same thing regarding Chairman Manny who has similar qualifications to be a U. S. Senator and you’re falling for it John. You sound like a conservative, so please don’t reward that kind of thing by giving Chairman Manny your vote.
dont forget bill powers too…..way to many non conservative liars
Hagerty is a rhino with ties to sharia finance. Sethi is an unknown entity and he says he’s a conservative. Oh my, which to choose?
It is very telling that the Senate Conservative Fund has not endorsed Chairman Manny for this open Senate seat. The reason, of course, is simple. Despite the fairy tales the Chris Devaney is spinning in Chairman Manny’s ads Sethi is simply nothing more than a Republican Establishment hanger-on. Dr. “CONSERVATIVE-OUTSIDER” can’t point to any evidence in his record of having the slightest interest in the Conservative movement. NOTHING!!! Conservatives should vote AGAINST Chairman Manny for trying to play them for fools by voting FOR Hagerty.
Sorry. Manny for Senate.
WOW, the picture published with this article speaks volumes.
I live in the TriCities area and can tell you Hagerty isn’t that well thought of, regardless of the early support from Trump. Hagerty is a Haslam protege and lots of folks in the area have a real negative opinion of Haslam.
I thought that commercial of Hagerty with the gun slung over his shoulder looked fake. What was he going to shoot? He didn’t look like he was hunting, just jeans a shirt.
It was a Fudd gun too. Something tells me Haggerty doesn’t understand or fully support the Second Amendment.