Two new polls show Blackburn leads Bredesen in TN Senate race

Republican Marsha Blackburn leads Democrat Phil Bredesen by at least 5 percentage points in two new polls in the Tennessee Senate race.

One is an NBC / Marist poll, which has Blackburn with 51% support of likely voters while Bredesen has 46% support. This survey of 417 likely voters took place from October 23 to 27 and had an error margin of 5.7 percentage points.

The other poll of Vox Populi Polling indicates that Blackburn is ahead of Bredesen, former state governor, by 6 points, or 53% to 47%. This survey of 780 "active voters" was conducted between 27 and 29 October and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

In recent months, these same two polls have shown Bredesen ahead of Blackburn by 2 percentage points.

The Blackburn initiative coincides with the growing popularity of President Donald Trump, who now enjoys the support of 56% of likely voters in the NBC / Marist poll, compared with 39% who do not support his performance. This is compared to 47% who approved the chair and 43% who did not agree with him two months ago. (The Tennessean)

"The change in favor of Blackburn could be a dose of political reality for Bredesen in Tennessee, where President Donald Trump won by 26 points in 2016," says an NBC / Marist analysis of poll results. "The survey sample shows that 43% of potential voters identify as Republicans, while only 27% identify as Democrats".

"In the weeks leading up to election day, Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn rallied Republican voters to help shore up her base," said Macy Cambio, Vox Populi Polling's chief executive, at The Tennessean. "The chance that this seat is overthrowing Democrat is much thinner than it was a month ago."

Three other polls in October also show that Blackburn leads Bredesen.

The Daily Wire said: "A Fox News poll that ended on October 2 revealed that Blackburn had a five-point lead; a CBS / YouGov survey that ended on October 5 ended with an eight-point lead, and a poll by the NY Times / Siena College that ended on Oct. 11 gave an advance of fourteen points. "