Senator Marsha Blackburn Holds Strong Lead in Latest Poll of Governor’s Race

Data and PollingElectionsState Education
Written By Sky Arnold

Senator Marsha Blackburn at a campaign stop last month (Photo by Marsha Blackburn)

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn continues to hold a strong lead in the second poll of the 2026 governor’s race conducted by the Beacon Center of Tennessee.

Blackburn held the support of 60 percent of the 484 Republican voters surveyed online in the poll, well ahead of Congressman John Rose’s 10 percent, and State Representative Monte Fritts’, R-Kingston, five percent. Support for both Blackburn and Rose is down from the Beacon Center’s August poll, which found that 68 percent of Republican voters supported Blackburn and 14 percent supported Rose.

Notably, undecided Republican voters rose from 19 percent in the August poll to 26 percent in the latest survey.

The Beacon’s August poll found that whichever candidate wins the Republican primary would be heavily favored over the Democratic primary winner, currently contested by Memphis City Council Member Jerri Green, Nashville musician Adam “Ditch” Kurtz, and a handful of other candidates who’ve yet to report any outside contributions.

Support for Religion in Schools

The Beacon Center also polled Tennessee voters on their support for religion in schools.

Fifty-two percent of respondents say there’s not enough religion in schools, compared to 21 percent who said there’s “about the right amount,” and 18 percent who said “too much.”

Additionally, 50 percent of those surveyed said that schools should “definitely” be allowed to include prayer or Bible readings as a part of classroom activities, and 22 percent said those activities should be allowed in some cases. Twenty-four percent of those surveyed said schools should not offer religious activities.

Voters Less “Satisfied” with Education than the State Overall

Voters surveyed were noticeably more satisfied with the state of Tennessee than with public education.  Sixty-one percent of those polled are “satisfied” with the way things are going in Tennessee, including 81 percent of Republican voters.

Those numbers dropped when respondents were asked how satisfied they were with K-12 public education. Just 47 percent of those polled expressed satisfaction with K-12 education, including 54 percent of Republicans.

The Beacon poll surveyed a total of 1,200 registered voters in Tennessee from October 26 through October 29.

Sky Arnold

Sky serves as the Managing Editor of the Tennessee Fireflly. He’s a veteran television journalist with two decades of experience covering news in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and Tennessee where he covered government for Fox 17 News in Nashville and WBBJ in Jackson. He’s a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and a big supporter of the Oklahoma Sooners.