While the flippable House has been the topic of much Democratic excitement, the Senate has appeared further out of reach. A closely-watched race in Tennessee, though, over the soon-to-be vacated seat of Sen. Bob Corker (R), gives some support to the claims that there could be a blue wave this November.
The race, which "leans Republican" by CNN's assessment, has the Democrat, one-time Nashville mayor and former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, with a double-digit lead on Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), The Tennessean reports. In the survey of 600 registered voters in the state, Middle Tennessee State University, which conducted the poll, found that 45 percent would vote for Bredesen if the election was held today and 35 percent would vote for Blackburn. Seventeen percent of the respondents weren't sure who they would vote for, and 3 percent declined to answer.
"I think some of that good will or social capital that [Bredesen] built up as governor may be paying dividends for him now," said MTSU poll director Ken Blake. Even Corker, the Republican in the seat now, admitted it could be close: "There's a lot of water to go under the bridge between now and the end. It'd be too early to make any prognostications today." In Politico Playbook's assessment, the writers caution that "this is an early poll," but add that "if Republicans can't hold Tennessee, that hurts their chances of keeping the majority, to put it mildly."
The poll was conducted between March 22 and 29 over cell phones and landlines and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. Read more about the results at The Tennessean.