NASHVILLE - A new poll on Tennessee's U.S. Senate race shows Democrat Phil Bredesen holding a slim two-point lead over Republican Marsha Blackburn, becoming the second survey this week showing the former governor ahead.
The 567-voter survey was conducted Sunday through Tuesday by the Republican-aligned Vox Populi Polling, also known as PopPolling.
It found Bredesen ahead of Blackburn, a Brentwood congressman, by 51-49 among voters who said they either plan to vote for or are leaning toward voting for one of the two hopefuls.
Excluding leaning voters, the margin was 42-42 percent. Given the survey's 4.1 percent margin of error, the contest is a "dead heat," the firm said. Earlier this week, CNN released a poll showing Bredesen leading Blackburn by 50-45 percent.
Noting that President Donald Trump won Tennessee by 20-plus points in 2016, Macy Cambio, PopPolling managing director, said in a statement that "Tennessee is a must-win state if Democrats have any hope of flipping the Senate this November.
"While the fundamentals of the state suggest Blackburn is well positioned going into November, Phil Bredesen is running a tight race in one of the most closely watched contests in the nation."
The survey also found that Republican Bill Lee leads Democrat Karl Dean by 9 points - 55-46 percent among those saying they will back the respective candidates or are leaning toward voting for them.
Excluding the leaners, 44 percent of those surveyed said they intended to vote for Lee, a Franklin businessman, and 34 percent said the same for Dean, a former Nashville mayor.
Noting voters prefer Republicans on the generic ballot by 56-46 percent and in the Lee/Dean race by 55-46 suggested "Blackburn has a significant opportunity to grow her base of support."
In another finding, 55 percent of those survey said they approved of Trump's job performance while 42 percent expressed disapproval.
Other take aways from the poll include:
* Voters' views of Blackburn remain sharply divided with 38 percent seeing her favorably while 37 percent unfavorable. Twenty percent had no opinion while 6 percent answered "unaware" when asked about her.
Bredesen's favorability among those surveyed was 41 percent and 34 percent view him unfavorably. Twenty percent had no his unfavorable views and 5 percent said answered with "unaware" when asked about him.
* Forty-one percent of those surveyed had a favorable view of Lee in the governor's race; 18 percent an unfavorable one. Thirty-two percent said they had no opinion while 9 percent said they were unaware when asked about him.
In Dean's case, 31 percent said they had a favorable view of him and 18 percent an unfavorable view. Forty percent had no opnion while 11 percent replied unaware when asked.
* Forty-three percent agreed with the statement that if Democrats were to win the U.S. House they would "be the balanced check that is currently missing on the president and his agenda." But 58 percent agreed with the statement that if Democrats win the House, they will "block everything the president wants to accomplish and create total gridlock."
* Sixty percent said they don't believe Trump should be impeached and "compelled to leave the presidency." Forty percent said they did think that.
* By a three-to-one margin, survey respondents said they opposed making cuts to entitlements, including Medicare, to balance the federal budget. Seventy-six percent said no to cuts and just 25 percent (figures were rounded to the nearest number) said they would support them.
* Respondents said by a 56-44 percent margin that they thought Trump's tariffs are hurting and not helping the people and the economy in Tennessee.
* By a 57-43 percent margin, respondents said they would support a single-payer health care system "where the federal government would pay for healthcare for all Americans even if that means raising taxes to pay for it."