Election 2020
ETSU poll finds Tennesseans split along party lines on absentee voting.
Voting by mail has gained attention in recent weeks due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Tennesseans are split, largely along party lines, on voting by mail, according to a new poll from East Tennessee State University.
The issue, which has gained attention in recent weeks due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, comes as voters in Tennessee begin to prepare to vote in this year’s August primary election.
Tennessee is one of a handful of states that requires voters under the age of 60 to provide an excuse for obtaining an absentee ballot. Last week, state election officials said fear of contracting COVID-19 did not meet the criteria for voters to obtain an absentee ballot.
The latest poll from ETSU found 64% of Republicans oppose voting by mail. Conversely, 66% of Democrats support absentee voting. Independent voters are split on the issue, with 43% of such voters supporting absentee voting and 35% against.
To assess respondents views on the subject, the poll, conducted by the Department of Sociology and Anthropology’s Applied Social Research Lab, asked two different questions.
One group of respondents was asked whether they favored or opposed requiring voting by mail in the 2020 general election.
The other group was asked if every Tennessean should have the option to vote by mail in the upcoming general election or whether absentee voting should be only offered to people who are unable to cast a ballot in person.
“Despite the differences in question wording, there is no statistical difference between the two groups in levels of support for voting by mail,” the poll found. “This suggests that opinions on the issue of voting by mail are fairly well-fixed since variance in question wording has no impact.”
Beyond absentee voting, the poll also asked respondents about the race between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Trump maintains a healthy advantage over Biden in the Volunteer State, although the president trails the Democrat in West Tennessee.
Statewide, Trump has a 53% to 36% advantage over Biden. Trump’s edge is highest in East Tennessee, where 65% of respondents said they favored him with 27% preferred Biden. In Middle Tennessee, 49% of those surveyed preferred Trump with 39% supported Biden.
But in West Tennessee, which is buoyed by Memphis, Biden has a slight edge. Forty-four percent of West Tennessee respondents preferred the former vice president while 42% favored Trump.
The ETSU poll also asked respondents to weigh in on the state’s race to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander. The survey, however, did not ask about specific candidates.
Instead, respondents were asked whether they preferred a Democrat or Republican to succeed Alexander. Forty-three percent of respondents said they were likely to vote for a Republican, while 26% preferred a Democrat. Another 26% said the party of Alexander’s successor didn’t matter.
The ETSU poll surveyed 618 Tennesseans over cell phones and landlines between April 22 and May 1. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
Want to read more stories like this? A subscription to one of our Tennessee publications gets you unlimited access to all the latest politics news, podcasts like Grand Divisions, plus newsletters, a personalized mobile experience and the ability to tap into stories, photos and videos from throughout the USA TODAY Network’s 261 daily sites.