CNN Polls: Democrats hold the upper hand in Arizona, Tennessee Senate races

By Jennifer Agiesta 
CNN Polling Director

Likely voters are a subset of registered voters in the poll and include those most likely to turn out based on a combination of self-reported intention to vote, interest in the election and past voting behavior.

Arizona and Tennessee are two of the four states where Democrats are widely seen as having at least some chance of picking up Senate seats in November’s election. The others are Texas — viewed as more of a long-shot – and Nevada — generally viewed as the Democrats’ best chance for a Senate pickup.

In order for the party to have any shot at taking control of the Senate, it’s almost certain that at least one seat from Arizona or Tennessee would need to go Democrats’ way.

Arizona has been a Democratic target for some time on account of its changing demographic profile, though the state hasn’t voted for a Democrat in major statewide elections since Janet Napolitano’s turn as governor in the Bush years.

Tennessee has generally moved away from its more Democratic-friendly past. Those differences are readily apparent in the two states’ impressions of President Donald Trump in the new polls. In Tennessee, likely voters are about evenly split on the president’s performance, 49 percent approve and 48 percent disapprove, far outpacing his nationwide approval rating in the latest CNN polling of 36 percent.

In Arizona, by contrast, Trump fares only slightly better than his national number, with 39 percent of likely voters saying they approve of the way he’s handling his job while 57 percent disapprove.

The Republican incumbents for these seats — Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee — have both been publicly critical of Trump. Approval ratings of the president are closely tied to preferences in the Senate race, according to the poll.

Among those voters who disapprove of Trump’s performance in Arizona, 85 percent back Sinema, while in Tennessee, 92 percent of those who disapprove of the president back Bredesen.

Democrats hope that a ticket topped by Bredesen, the state’s former governor whose positive favorability ratings outstrip the negative by a 2-to-1 margin (52 percent favorable to 24 percent unfavorable among the state’s registered voters), can outweigh the state’s underlying Republican tilt. Blackburn, by contrast, splits public opinion, with 41 percent of registered voters viewing her favorably and 39 percent unfavorably, with 20 percent unsure.

Bredesen’s edge here is driven by cross-party appeal. Although his favorability ratings are underwater among Republicans, 28 percent of them have a favorable view of him, while just 9 percent of Democrats have a positive view of Blackburn.

In Arizona, both Sinema and McSally are viewed more positively than negatively, though more than 2-in-10 likely voters say they have no opinion of each Senate candidate.

Health care tops the list of voters’ most important issues in both states, with 29 percent calling it tops in their Senate vote in Tennessee and 25 percent saying the same in Arizona. The economy follows in Tennessee at 22 percent, immigration lands third at 16 percent. In Arizona, immigration is next on the list at 22percent, with the economy just behind at 20 percent.

Voters who say health care is their top issue are broadly supportive of the Democrat in both contests, breaking for Bredesen over Blackburn by 71 percent to 21 percent, and for Sinema over McSally by 75 percent to 14 percent. Both economy and immigration voters favor the Republican in each state.

Blackburn holds a whopping 50-point lead among immigration voters in Tennessee and a 10-point advantage among economy voters. In Arizona, McSally tops Sinema by 33 points among immigration voters and 24 points among those who call the economy the most important issue in their vote.