Beacon Poll Shows Trump and Blackburn with Big Leads in Tennessee

The Nashville-based Beacon Center of Tennessee published results of its poll on Tuesday revealing how registered Tennessee voters would vote in the 2024 presidential and senate general election races.

The right-of-center think tank polled 1,200 registered voters in the Volunteer State from September 27 through October 8.

In the 2024 presidential election, the poll shows former President Donald Trump with a 21-point lead (56 percent-35 percent) over Vice President Kamala Harris in a head-to-head matchup in the Volunteer State.

The poll also found Trump’s policies to be more favorable among Tennessee voters, including the former president’s plan to impose higher tariffs on foreign nations and his support for school choice.

Tennessee voters also overwhelmingly trust Trump more than Harris on 12 different policy issues, including the former president’s abilities to maintain a strong foreign policy and manage national security matters (61 percent-26 percent), manage inflation and keep the cost of living under control (60 percent-28 percent), modernize the nation’s infrastructure (55 percent-31 percent), reduce government spending (53 percent-26 percent), and support small businesses and entrepreneurship (52 percent-35 percent).

In wake of flash flooding from Hurricane Helene that devastated parts of East Tennessee and other southeastern states, poll respondents were also asked which leader they believe would handle natural disaster response and recovery, which found Trump with a 23-point lead over Harris (58 percent-35 percent).

As for the 2024 Senate race, U.S. incumbent Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) leads Tennessee State Representative Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) by 23 points (54 percent-31 percent), marking Blackburn’s biggest lead in the race, according to the Beacon Center.

The poll results also show Blackburn posting her best approval rating to date, with 53 percent of Tennesseans approving of the job the incumbent senator is doing and 35 percent disapproving of the way she is doing her job.

Tuesday’s poll was published one day before early in-person voting begins in Tennessee for the November 5 general election.

Early in-person voting is available Monday-Saturday and runs through Thursday, October 31 with times varying by polling location.

Absentee mail-in ballots must be requested by Tuesday, October 29 and be received by voters’ respective election commission no later than the close of polls on Election Day.

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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.

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