U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn has a commanding lead in the Republican primary for governor of Tennessee — and that was true even before she announced her candidacy last week. Early August polling by the conservative think tank the Beacon Center found that Blackburn has a 52-point lead over U.S. Congressman John Rose.
The race is still in its early days, and polls don’t always predict who the final nominee will be. However, both Blackburn and Rose lead against a hypothetical Democratic candidate, which the Beacon Center called “notable,” because “generic members of a party often poll better than the actual nominees.” So far, Memphis council member Jerri Green is the only Democrat to put his hat in the ring for governor.
The Beacon Center also polled voters on the expansion of the state’s voucher program, tariffs and the recent Supreme Court ruling on gender-affirming care for minors. Respondents generally support SCOTUS’s decision and a potential expansion that would allow more parents to use state dollars to send their kids to private school. However, the polling shows that Tennesseans are largely split on President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
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