Poll: Lamar Alexander Ahead of Primary Challenger, Under 50 Percent

Breitbart News ^ | May 22, 2014 | Matthew Boyle

[Engraved-on-His-hands]

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) is well ahead of his Republican primary challenger but polling under 50 percent a few months ahead of his August primary, a new poll provided exclusively to Breitbart News shows. Alexander leads Tea Party-backed state Rep. Joe Carr 44-20, the Triton Polling poll of approximately 1037 likely GOP primary voters and conducted Wednesday this week found. The poll was commissioned by Tea Party Nation.

[Engraved-on-His-hands]

ping

[Ingtar]

Crap! Hoping the poll is incorrect, but I was beginning to wonder.

[Engraved-on-His-hands]

I received an email from Alexander for Senate today, perhaps to try to counter this new poll. I suspect that the truth lies somewhere between the two extremes, but I think that Carr has a fighting chance. Here is the email that I received:

Thought you would like to see this article. -- Alice

Joe Carr Has Moved The Needle 1 Percent In Five Months
Nashville Scene
Steve Cavendish
May 21, 2014

In the latest Vanderbilt poll, we find that Joe Carr's momentum is such that if he has another decade or so, he'll be competitive with Sen. Lamar Alexander.

From the last poll in December until now, pollsters at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions discovered that Carr's favorable ratings among registered Republicans rose from 16 percent to 17 percent. Seventy-five percent of the group either didn't know or had never heard of Joe Carr.

Meanwhile, in a measure of favorability among Republican primary voters, the news was just as bad for Carr:

Alexander
Favorable: 64%
Unfavorable: 29%
Never heard of: 2%

Carr
Favorable: 20%
Unfavorable: 8%
Never heard of: 55%

Other bullet points on the race:

* The Senior Senator's approval ratings are 47 percent among tea party members. That's not a "throw him out of office" kind of number.

* Half of Republican primary voters have only a favorable view toward Alexander while 7 percent have only a favorable view toward Carr.

* Of the three biggest officeholders in the state: Alexander, Sen. Bob Corker and Gov. Bill Haslam, only Alexander's statewide approval ratings didn't fall.

If we look north to last night's primaries in Kentucky, they don't exactly portend great things for Carr, either. Matt Bevin lasted only six minutes after the polls closed before Sen. Mitch McConnell was declared the winner. Tea party favorite Bevin raised only $3 million and while Carr hasn't done anything as dumb as Bevin — like speak at a pro-cockfighting rally — his sluggish fundraising and lack of a breakthrough issue have him miles behind Alexander, it appears.

[Engraved-on-His-hands]

For an incumbent to be only polling at 44%, that is generally very bad news for the incumbent. Undecideds usually do not break for the incumbent.

[entropy12]

I don’t care who wins TN primary so long as he/she is the most electable republican in general election in November.

[Ingtar]

Isn’t the primary soon?

[ZULU]

I’m SO sick of the MORONS who vote in this country. Ask ANY of them what they think of COngress and they hate it more than Obama.

BUT, present them with an opportunity to make a DIFFERENCE and VOTE OUT career criminal incumbents, they ALWAYS go the OTHER way!!!

[Engraved-on-His-hands]

Not until August 7th. There is still time.

[Engraved-on-His-hands]

Carr getting his name and political philosophy out will be huge in the coming weeks. The article says that only 28% know Carr well enough to give an opinion about him, but that 57% of people would support a conservative challenger to Alexander.

[SharpRightTurn]

Thanks for the poll info, EOHH.

Although a lot of territory separates the two, being at 44 does not bode well for Alexander.

Once the other big primaries are over, I’m hoping the SCF, CFG, Freedom Works, and other groups will jump in to support Carr.

[VanDeKoik]

Maybe the conservative electorate is getting sick of the Tea Party being a nebulous concept that private organizations raise money off of and produce little results, and not a real political party?

The tea party has now leadership, no HQ, no apparatus, no media arm. Just some people calling themselves “tea party groups” and they don’t even know who the other is nor do they coordinate very well. That stuff was cute and fun back in 2010 when it kept the media and DNC off-balance, but the other side has become more savvy along with the eGOP.

And you cant have a “civil war” in a political party and think the establishment is just going to roll over. All it takes is a string of loses in primaries and the nebulous movement collapses because there is no leadership to hold accountable, and no ability to change strategy. And it no longer is considered “fun” for too many.

[ConservativeMan55]

Don’t forget this one!

http://www.twshannon.com

[SharpRightTurn]

“I don’t care who wins TN primary so long as he/she is the most electable republican in general election in November.”

It’s not likely this seat will go Dim.

[DJ MacWoW]

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[Blood of Tyrants]

I expected this. Alexander has so much money he has been running ads since September.

[BloomNTn]

I was one of the voters polled for this one and chose Carr and contributed to Lamar’s negatives. :)

[VideoDoctor]

I also saw the article.

Carr has done close to NOTHING in terms of mounting a campaign.

Can't WIN if you don't PLAY.

[Jagdgewehr]

Boggles the mind, doesn’t it?

[RginTN]

Don’t care about poll results. Recent polling said a majority of Tennesseans favor Common Core and free college...there are a lot of uniformed people being polled.

I will vote Carr in the primary and if he doesn’t win not vote for the liberal Alexander in the general because its silly to reward a big govt Republican.