Vanderbilt poll: Trump leads Clinton in Tennessee


              FILE- In this Friday, May 6, 2016, photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Eugene, Ore. Trump has won the Republican presidential primary in Oregon, adding another state to the presumptive GOP nominee's tally of victories.  (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
FILE- In this Friday, May 6, 2016, photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Eugene, Ore. Trump has won the Republican presidential primary in Oregon, adding another state to the presumptive GOP nominee's tally of victories. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
photo FILE - In this Thursday, May 5, 2016 file photo, former President Bill Clinton speaks in Portland, Ore., while campaigning for his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is banking on his strong base of progressive Oregonian supporters in the primary on Tuesday, May 17, 2016, in his hopes of beating the odds and taking his campaign all the way to the Democratic National Convention. Front-runner Hillary Clinton - who suffered a big primary loss in Oregon against President Barack Obama in 2008 - sent Bill Clinton twice but has not visited herself. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, File)

NASHVILLE - Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has a nine-point lead in Tennessee over Democrat Hillary Clinton, according to the results of the latest Vanderbilt Poll-Tennessee.

The survey showed Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, with 44 percent support compared to Clinton's 35 percent.

Vanderbilt's survey of 1,101 registered voters, conducted April 25-May 11, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percent.

John Geer, a Vanderbilt political science professor and co-director of the Center for the Study of Democratic studies, said the poll showed Trump picking up additional support following his May 3 Indiana primary victory.

"The state is more competitive than we thought it would be," Geer said, adding "and that does not bode well for Trump nationally."

Democrats' presidential nominees haven't carried the state since 1996 when President Bill Clinton won by a plurality. Vice President Al Gore, a one-time U.S. senator from Tennessee, famously lost Tennessee in his 2000 presidential bid.

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