Poll predicts Blackburn win, Harris gain

(The Center Square) – U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is cruising into another term, according to a poll released Tuesday.

While Vice President Kamala Harris won't win Tennessee, she has dented former President Donald Trump's lead.

Blackburn has a 23-point lead over state Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, in the new poll of 976 likely voters from the Beacon Center of Tennessee.

The first-term senator received an approval rating of 53%, her highest to date, according to the Beacon Center. Thirty-five percent of respondents disapproved of the job Blackburn is doing.

Pamela Moses, who is running as an independent, received 5% of the vote.

Thirty percent of the respondents deemed Blackburn as too conservative. Thirty-six of those polled said Johnson is too liberal.

Tennessee is a Republican stronghold, and the poll shows Trump with a 21-point lead over Harris.

"While Trump continues to hold a large lead in Tennessee, Harris outperforming Biden gives an increasingly nervous Democratic Party some good news," a release from the Beacon Center says. "The seven-point difference between Harris and Biden is notable, and in a race that is essentially a coin flip, it would be a welcome sign for Democrats if Harris were to outperform Biden's 23-point loss in Tennessee, especially given Trump's recent momentum."

Fifty-eight percent said they believed Trump would do a better job handling natural disasters, while 35% gave a thumbs up to Harris.

The Biden administration has been criticized for its handling of Hurricane Helene, which caused significant damage in the northeastern part of the state.

The Center Square Voters' Voice poll , conducted with Noble Predictive Insights, shows Harris with a slight lead over Trump at 49% compared to Trump's 47%. Harris performed better than Biden , as the Beacon Center poll also showed.

"Biden was careening toward some real, real bad numbers before he dropped out, and Harris has essentially brought the topline numbers back to where Biden was in 2020, which is an extremely close race by the time the votes were counted," said David Byler, head of research at Noble Predictive Insights.

Early voting begins Wednesday in Tennessee.