Fall 2024 Vanderbilt Poll finds increased support for MAGA sentiment and state officials

The Fall 2024 Vanderbilt Poll surveyed 955 registered voters in Tennessee from Nov. 18, 2024 to Dec. 4, 2024. The poll found an increase in Republican respondents who identified themselves as supporters of the “Make America Great Again” movement. Tennesseeans also expressed slightly increased support for state officials, reproductive healthcare and Medicaid expansion, although there was little movement on other key issues from the spring 2024 poll.

The Vanderbilt state poll is conducted semi-annually by the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, which is co-directed by political science professors John Geer and Joshua Clinton. The poll canvassed Tennessee residents using voter registration lists, with questions asked through interviews primarily via cellphone and some landline use.

The poll results indicate that Tennesseans’ stances on key issues have generally remained consistent with previously reported findings, with the exception of increased approval for Tennessee state lawmakers. According to the press release announcing the poll results, the consistency in trends since the May poll suggests that the 2024 presidential election had little influence on the fall poll results. 

Party self-identification

The poll saw an increase in MAGA support among Republican voters. The May 2024 poll reported 46% of Republican voters’ views aligned more closely with MAGA than the GOP. The latest poll findings reveal that 60% of Republicans now align with MAGA — a 14% jump since May.

Clinton said he has not seen a significant difference in the political labels Tennesseans choose to identify themselves with over time, particularly as “conservative” or “liberal,” but there has been a change in MAGA sentiment following the results of the 2024 presidential election.

“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,” Clinton said in the press release. “The policies Tennesseans support and the opinions they express have not dramatically changed since we have been tracking the views of registered Tennessee voters.”

!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r=0;r