Tennesseans remain at odds with Republican lawmakers on policies around firearms and cannabis access, a new Vanderbilt University poll found, even though approval for state lawmakers has increased this year.
A majority of both Republicans and Democrats polled post-election support recreational marijuana legalization and some gun safety reform, such as requiring gun owners to report a stolen gun or temporarily restricting gun access for some individuals deemed a risk.
The Vanderbilt Poll found 63% of polled voters support legalizing recreational marijuana — 53% of Republicans and 78% of Democrats.
On guns, 86% of respondents either strongly or somewhat support a law to require gun owners to report a lost or stolen gun, including 74% of Republicans who self-identify as “MAGA” Republicans, or conservatives more closely aligned with President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, 78% of respondents would either strongly or somewhat support a “red flag” law to restrict guns from people deemed a high risk to themselves or others.
Vanderbilt found women across political parties support gun safety reform at higher rates than men.
The polling indicates how the priorities in the legislature, where the GOP supermajority has resisted changes to gun and marijuana policy in recent years, and those of a broad segment of Tennesseans don’t always line up.
“While much ink has been spilled about what the election results mean about the electorate, these results suggest little change in the opinions of Tennesseans, which means the misalignment between voters and elected officials continues,” John Geer, co-director of the Vanderbilt Poll and a Vanderbilt University political science expert, said in a statement.
Still, the legislature’s approval rating jumped seven points from May to December, with 53% approving of the work of the General Assembly. The timing of the poll is notable, though, considering the May 2024 survey fell immediately following the legislative session.
“Tennesseans expressed increased satisfaction with their state officials as well as the U.S. Congress,” Vanderbilt Poll co-director Josh Clinton said. “This is likely an afterglow of the election and possibly reflective of a fading memory of the contentious last session.”
Overall, Tennesseans ranked the economy and education as the top issues for government to address. Support for Gov. Bill Lee’s school voucher plan slightly outweighed opposition, with 47% either somewhat or strongly supporting the plan to give public tax dollars to pay for private schools and 44% either somewhat or strongly opposing it.
The majority of Republicans and independents support the plan, while the majority of Democrats opposed it.
The Vanderbilt Poll surveyed 955 Tennessee registered voters between Nov. 18 and Dec. 4. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
Conservatives align more with ‘MAGA’ identity
The December poll noted a large shift in Tennesseans who self-identify as “MAGA” Republicans. The Vanderbilt Poll began highlighting in 2022 two conservative subgroups of Republican registered voters who identify more with President-elect Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement or the Republican Party more generally.
MAGA supporters increased from 46% in May to 60% in December. However, this shift did not mean the partisan makeup of Tennessee changed significantly. In 2015, 47% of poll respondents identified as conservative or very conservative, compared to 48% this December.
“On the face of it, this would seem to indicate Tennessee is becoming more conservative, but the basic way people describe themselves — such as ‘conservative’ or ‘very liberal ’— hasn’t shifted in a decade,” Clinton said. “The shift we see is almost certainly a statement about how the MAGA brand has overtaken the Republican brand in the state —especially coming off of a successful election. The policies Tennesseans support and the opinions they express have not dramatically changed since we have been tracking the views of registered Tennessee voters.”
Support deepens for abortion access
More than 80% of Tennesseans, regardless of political party, support increased exceptions to the state’s near-total abortion ban in instances of rape, incest or fatal fetal medical diagnoses.
Tennessee’s current abortion law bans nearly all abortions, except when the life of the mother is threatened. The legal statute has been criticized by some Tennessee doctors as too vague for clear medical practice. A slight majority, 54%, of respondents polled supported a clarification to the ban to include “all conditions that pose a threat to the health of the mother,” while 39% polled said the law should remain as is.
Overall, Tennesseans who identify as “pro-choice” have steadily increased in recent years, per historical polling from Vanderbilt that first found pro-choice respondents at 37% in 2012.
This December, 53% identified as either “definitely” or “somewhat” pro-choice, up slightly from a May 2024 poll.
H/T: www.tennessean.com
