New polling released to The Tennessee Star on Friday shows U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) with a 17-point lead in the Republican Party gubernatorial primary in Tennessee with less than one week until voters cast their ballots.
The internal poll by Fabrizio, Lee and Associates found Blackburn polling at 42 percent, with U.S. Representative John Rose (R-TN-06) and State Representative Monty Fritts “distantly behind,” respectively polling at 25 percent and 22 percent.
Another 11 percent of respondents told the pollsters they remained undecided, even with early voting concluding on Saturday ahead of the primary election on August 6.
The survey also found 69 percent of voters approve of Blackburn’s performance in Congress, compared to 27 percent who disapprove, and 5 percent who either did not know their opinion or refused to provide an answer.
News that more than two-thirds of likely Republican primary voters approve of Blackburn’s performance in the Senate comes as an aggregate of polling data shows Congress enjoys the approval of just 13.5 percent of Americans. It also comes after another survey found only 32 percent of voters approve of Republicans in Congress.
The latest data suggests Blackburn’s lead tightened by about 9 points since the last release of internal polling by her campaign, while support for Fritts grew faster than support for Rose.
On July 13, the Blackburn campaign released polling that showed the senator at 51 percent, followed by Rose at 20 percent, and Fritts at 12 percent. The latest data suggests Rose increased his vote share by five points, while Fritts’ increased his by 10 points over the same period.
Every scientific survey of the race released since polling began in January 2025 has shown Blackburn with a double-digit lead.
Fabrizio, Lee, and Associates said the survey included 800 Republican Primary voters in Tennessee who were polled between July 26-28 and estimated a margin of error of 3.5 percent. The firm’s founder, Tony Fabrizio, was notably the chief pollster for President Donald Trump in 2024.
– – –
Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Marsha Blackburn” by Marsha Blackburn, “John Rose” is by John Rose and “Monty Fritts” is by Monty Fritts.
