Image Credit: Facebook accounts of David Hatley, Marsha Blackburn & Jerri Green; Canva.
Article by Olivia Lupia, Tennessee Conservative News –
A new poll shows Republican Marsha Blackburn leading Democrat Jerri Green and Independent David Hatley by double digits heading into the midterm election as voters emphasize concerns about socialism and communism, the decline of religious values, and accountability around artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers.
The poll was conducted by research firm Spry Strategies and surveyed 635 likely Tennessee voters between Oct. 10-16 via a text-to-web survey with a margin of error of +/- 3.89 percentage points.
Key findings from the poll indicate Blackburn has 43.5% of support amongst the likely voters while Green has 32% and Hatley has just under 12%, giving Blackburn an 11.5% edge over Green.
Independent Lauren Pinkston came in at 1.4% support, and the polling showed she remains largely unknown even among independents, as 49% said they’d never heard of her and another 32% said they had no opinion.
Of the named candidates, Blackburn also came out on top among undecided voters, garnering 25% total support, though Hately was a close second with 21%. Green trailed with 19% followed by Pinkston.
And Blackburn was also shown to have a broad lead over Green regardless of gender, in rural and suburban areas, and throughout Middle, West, and East Tennessee.
However, in contrast, the Hatley campaign released their own independent text poll conducted on Oct. 17 by GOTV Polling (FullPAC, Inc.) showing Hatley leading Blackburn and Green in five Northeast Tennessee counties.
The Hatley sample was 762 respondents in Sullivan, Washington, Greene, Carter, and Johnson Counties with a margin of error of +/- 3.6 percentage points. These results put Hatley at 36.4% support, Blackburn at 24.9%, and Green at 29.5%. Pinkston polled approximately the same in the Spry and GOTV polls, coming in at 1.2%.
The GOTV poll also notes that respondents skewed Democrat while the Spry poll likely pulled more to the right as results were weighted “to reflect the demographic and political composition of Tennessee likely voters.”
About 53% of respondents to the Spry survey identified as Republicans, 19% as independents, and 23% as Democrats. Additionally, nearly 57% of respondents lived in small or rural towns, and 83% identified as moderate to very conservative.
Spry Strategies’ client roster also includes Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, and the Tennessee House and Senate Republican caucuses.
The Spry survey then asked respondents to identify the most important of seven potential issues, and 28.7% of respondents said Socialism and Communism, followed by the decline of religious values in America at 20.6%.
Artificial intelligence data centers came third, with 17.8%, and an additional 13.3% of respondents selected AI in general, meaning that overall, a total of 31.1% of those surveyed said an AI-related issue was most important.
Tennessee voters oppose building AI data centers in their own communities by more than 2 to 1, with 62.1% opposition versus 26.7% support, and a 44% majority also opposed construction elsewhere in the county while 38.3% support it.
And 36.3% of respondents, including Republicans and Democrats, want data centers to keep building but face more accountability, like paying property taxes and meeting environmental standards. Another 31.7% support pausing new construction until stronger regulations are crafted, and 15.7% want to see state tax breaks rolled back.
“Asked what worries them most about AI, voters most often name the spread of false or misleading information (21.3%) and loss of jobs (18.3%), followed by a lack of government regulation (14%) and environmental and energy costs (12.4%). Just 3.5% say nothing about AI worries them,” the survey results state.
The next governor will be responsible for addressing these voter concerns, and the three leading candidates all seem to have varying stances on them.
Millions of dollars have poured into the governor’s race, with all three claiming the race is theirs to win.
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About the Author: Olivia Lupia is a political refugee from Colorado who now calls Tennessee home. A proud follower of Christ, she views all political happenings through a Biblical lens and aims to utilize her knowledge and experience to educate and equip others. Olivia is an outspoken conservative who has run for local office, managed campaigns, and been highly involved with state & local GOPs, state legislatures, and other grassroots organizations and movements. Olivia can be reached at olivia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
