Gov. Lee earns favorable rating; GOP expected to hold Senate seat

TENNESSEE MASON-DIXON POLL

Gov. Bill Lee receives high job performance marks from Tennessee voters, according to a poll released Friday by Jacksonville, Florida-based Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy Inc.

Meanwhile, respondents appeared to overwhelmingly prefer the two Republican candidates vying to fill Lamar Alexander’s seat in the U.S. Senate.

Statewide, 55% of of respondents said they approved of Lee’s job performance to date, while 27% said they disapproved and 18% were not sure.

Lee’s strongest support came from Republican voters (79%), while still earning the approval of 26% of the state’s Democrats and just under half of all who identify as independents (49%).

Respondents were also asked to compare each of the two Republican candidates for Alexander’s seat, Bill Hagerty and Manny Sethi, to the sole Democrat in the race, James Mackler.

In each case, Mackler earned the lower marks, with 55% of voters statewide saying they would vote for Hagerty

in a match-up with Mackler, and 46% of voters statewide saying they would vote for Sethi in a match-up with Mackler. Thirty-three percent of poll respondents said they would vote for Mackler if paired against Hagerty, while 12% were undecided. Thirty-five percent of respondents said they would vote for Sethi if paired against Mackler, with 19% saying they were undecided.

Mason-Dixon conducted the polling from Jan. 28-30, interviewing a total of 625 registered Tennessee voters over the phone.