The 2025 Vanderbilt Nashville Poll canvassed 1,008 residents across Davidson County in Nashville, Tenn., from Feb. 21 to March 16, with a 3.8% margin of error. The poll found continued support for Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell and differing views on the city’s priorities along party lines. 

This annual poll is conducted through over the phone interviews by the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions under the leadership of political science professors John Geer and Joshua Clinton, who serve as co-directors of the institute. 

Future of Nashville

Approximately 58% of respondents expressed that they see Nashville as headed in the right direction, an increase of 5 percentage points from the 2024 poll results. Across voters who identified with the Democratic Party, Republican Party and independent candidates, all respondents increasingly shared this sentiment regarding the city’s direction. Republicans saw the smallest growth at 2%, with 52% of the party continuing to assert the city is on the wrong track. This stands in contrast to the Democratic and independent identifications, of whom 64% and 58%, respectively, responded in the affirmative. 

In a conversation with The Hustler, Geer credited Nashvillians’ favorable view of the city’s future to Mayor O’Connell.

“I think the most important, and perhaps therefore compelling, part of the poll is that the current mayor remains wildly popular, and he [has] been able to get the city to think much more [that] the city’s on the right track — more so than in the past. Numbers have fallen down quite a bit, and he’s turned that around,” Geer said.

When asked specifically about Nashville’s economy, a majority of survey participants (66%) indicated they felt the economy was “very or fairly good,” a decrease from 68% in 2024.

Local politics

Approval for O’Connell decreased overall. O’Connell’s popularity experienced a downturn of 12 percentage points among Republicans and 2 percentage points among Democrats, while independent approval remained consistent with last year at 68%. Democratic support for O’Connell remained high at 83%, while a majority of Republicans now disapprove of the mayor — a shift from the mayor’s 56% approval rating in 2024. Respondents indicated their top priorities for O’Connell were improving public education, working on problems low-income people face and making rent in Nashville more affordable. 

Geer discussed the mayor’s approval ratings, emphasizing his view of O’Connell’s success in the midst of a politically tumultuous era.

“[The mayor is] actually faring pretty well among Republicans in this era of polarization, and I think [that] helps explain why he’s as popular as he is, because it’s not like he has no support among Republicans,” Geer said. “That’s unusual in this day and age when Democrats [and] Republicans disagree about leadership in pretty strong, stark terms.”

Additionally, Geer attributed the decline in approval among Republicans to the mayor’s administration passing the “honeymoon period.”

“[O’Connell had] only been in office [for] four or five months [during the 2024 poll], and so he was still enjoying a honeymoon [period],” Geer said. “I think the more compelling story is to look at how he’s getting that kind of support among Republicans in this era when Republicans are not supporting Democrats and Democrats are not supporting Republicans.”

Geer explained his reasoning for the increased sentiment among Republicans who say that Nashville’s elected officials should challenge the state legislature and government’s actions. 

“There’s a belief that the state legislature is being a little too extreme, and that’s something that we see in other kinds of data as well. The state legislature is pursuing [President Donald Trump’s] policy on keeping the children of undocumented immigrants out of public school,” Geer said. “That’s very controversial. It’s not something that the majority of Tennesseeans support in any way, shape or form, but [that] doesn’t keep the state legislature from doing things that are only supported by a minority of people.”

Geer described how he believes recent policy changes from the Trump administration will affect the mayor’s approval rating.

“I would suspect that [the mayor’s] popularity will drop a little bit more as he makes some tougher calls, especially around housing. But that goes hand in hand with governing,” Geer said. “[O’Connell has] positioned himself very strongly for a successful re-election — [that] does not mean he will be [reelected], but there’s not a lot of people that are going to challenge somebody with 67% approval.”

Growth and housing

Since last year, the amount of respondents who said they view Nashville’s population growth as rising “too quickly” has decreased by two percentage points. Across political parties, respondents expressed differing viewpoints for the city’s top investing priorities in new neighborhoods. While 96% of Democrats said they believe building more affordable housing is a priority, 71% of Republicans expressed agreement with this opinion. 

Republicans also indicated a greater preference for initiatives that would bring new businesses to town, expand tourism and support professional sports, at 73%, 40% and 50%, respectively. 77% of Democrats and 66% of independents indicated supporting the arts and theatre as one of their top issues, while 52% of Republicans responded the same. However, all parties were aligned in the idea that producing a greater number of high paying jobs was a top priority, garnering support from 84% of Republicans and 83% for Democrats and independents.

During the survey, respondents were given a hypothetical housing scenario and asked to choose between two laws. One option supported by 5% of Democrats, 18% of Independents, and 38% of Republicans would allow a homeowner to choose who to sell their house to, even if they prefer not to sell to African Americans or Latinos. The other option disallowed a homeowner from refusing to sell to someone based on their race, ethnicity or color, of which 93% of Democrats, 75% of Independents, and 52% of Republicans supported.

Immigration

Respondents were also asked about their views on deporting illegal immigrants back to their home countries. Overall, 61% of respondents across all parties believed illegal immigrants should be deported if they have a criminal record unrelated to their immigration status, and 26% supported deportation in the absence of a criminal record.