Poll: Education, economy most important state topics for Tennessee voters

Tennessee voters say education and the economy should be the top priorities of state government, according to a recent Vanderbilt Poll.

The poll surveyed 1,005 registered voters between Nov. 14 and Dec. 2.

Those voters were given 10 topics and chose education 17% of the time, the economy 16%, and inflation 11%. The topics of health care, infrastructure, gun safety and crime all received 10% of the vote.

This is a change from April, when the Vanderbilt Poll showed 19% said economy, 18% education, 16% guns and 13% inflation.

A year earlier in November 2022, education and inflation both had 19% of the interest with 16% saying economy, 10% abortion, 8% health care and 5% guns.

The poll also showed the approval rating of the Tennessee Legislature was at 42% and Gov. Bill Lee’s approval rating remained at the same 53% as in April, down from 57% in November 2022.

The poll also showed that registered voters believe the state is somewhat divided (35%) on the most pressing issues it faces, with 28% saying it’s somewhat united, 18% saying mostly divided and 17% saying mostly united.

The opinions on Americans as a whole, however, had 53% saying we are mostly divided and 35% saying we are somewhat divided.

The Tennessee economy was rated as fairly good by 52% of respondents and fairly bad by 26% while the U.S. economy was rated as very bad by 36%, fairly bad by 34% and fairly good by 26%. Those U.S. ratings were consistent with what the poll has shown since May 2021.

Poll respondents were asked if Tennesseans should be allowed to peacefully protest at the Capitol when state legislators are in session and 82% said it should be allowed with 16% saying it shouldn’t be allowed.

More than half of respondents said they did not know enough to say if the state Legislature was correct in passing laws to overturn local Metro Nashville laws. Another 20% strongly disapproved the moves while 14% somewhat disapproved and 10% somewhat approved.