The Spring 2025 Vanderbilt Poll surveyed 1,223 registered voters in Tennessee from April 17 to April 27. With a 3.5% margin of error, results from the poll show bipartisan opposition to federal funding cuts but distinct partisan differences in views on illegal immigration and government officials.
The poll is conducted twice annually by the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions and is co-directed by political science professors Joshua Clinton and John Geer; the latter is also a senior advisor to Chancellor Daniel Diermeier. The poll canvassed Tennessee registered voters over the phone and online.
Federal funding cuts
Across the board, respondents expressed opposition to cutting federal funding for a variety of government services. The poll found 94% of respondents opposed Social Security funding cuts, 89% opposed Medicaid funding cuts, 94% opposed Medicare funding cuts and 94% opposed limiting financial assistance for veterans.
Geer discussed his thoughts on this trend in a message to The Hustler.
“These data show the perils the GOP faces if they choose to cut programs that help seniors, the poor, veterans, etc.,” Geer said. “To ignore the implications for the deficit [that] tax cuts have risks the economy as interest rates will spike. But to keep the tax cuts, there will need to be some cuts to these popular programs. Choose your poisons. It will be interesting to see whether the ‘big, beautiful bill’ survives.”
Although 68% of respondents somewhat or strongly opposed cutting federal funding for national parks, the responses varied by self-identified political party. Among “Make America Great Again” Republicans and non-MAGA Republicans, 48% and 62%, respectively, somewhat or strongly opposed reducing national park funding compared to 87% of Democrats and 72% of Independents who expressed the same opinion.
Opposition to federal funding reductions for research efforts showed similar party divides. The most significant party divide over research funding was for research at universities, in which 35% of MAGA Republicans opposed reducing federal funding compared to 92% of Democrats.
Opposition to reducing research funding for teaching hospitals, basic laboratory research into causes of diseases, clinical trials with human subjects to develop new treatments for diseases and research to develop new vaccines was around 70% in each case. Around 50% of MAGA Republicans and 90% of Democrats opposed funding cuts in these areas.
Over the past few months, federal funding cuts for research have affected university research labs and graduate school admissions and have led to student and faculty activism.
Deportation and immigration
Respondents generally supported deporting individuals from the United States who lack permanent legal status and have criminal records, with 73% somewhat or strongly supporting this view. Fewer people (51%) expressed support for the deportation of individuals who live in the country illegally when they don’t have criminal records. Thirty-five percent of respondents somewhat or strongly supported a proposed bill in the Tennessee state legislature that could deny children access to public education if their parents are living in the country without legal status.
Respondents showed more division along party lines when it comes to the government conducting searches to find individuals living in the United States illegally. A little over a third of respondents (35%) somewhat or strongly supported the government searching both K-12 schools and churches, synagogues and mosques, but a higher proportion (45%) somewhat or strongly supported the government searching colleges and universities.
MAGA Republicans expressed more support for the government searching K-12 schools and colleges and universities than other groups, but only 30% of MAGA Republicans expressed support for searching churches, synagogues and mosques compared to 68% supporting searching K-12 schools and 88% supporting searching colleges and universities.
Geer addressed the trend of the higher willingness of respondents to have the government search colleges and universities.
“Truth of the matter is that Americans have lost faith in higher education and that context leads the public to be less concerned about searching college campuses for individuals suspected of being in this country illegally,” Geer said. “Higher education needs to regain its footing with the public and address some of the concerns Americans have about our universities and colleges. It is not a time for universities to turn inward.”
Democrats showed the opposite trend, with more expressing support for the government searching churches, synagogues and mosques for people living in the country illegally than K-12 schools and colleges and universities — 13% in the former and 7% in both of the latter cases.
Earlier this year, the United States Department of Homeland Security announced that it would rescind protections that prevented immigration enforcement from taking place on areas such as college campuses.
National and state politics
Republicans expressed overwhelming support for President Donald Trump but less support for the U.S. Congress, with 80% of non-MAGA Republicans and 99% of MAGA Republicans expressing approval for Trump and 56% and 63% of non-MAGA and MAGA Republicans, respectively, expressing approval for Congress. On the other hand, Democrats had a higher approval rating of Congress (7%) than of Trump (4%).
Approval of state officials showed less polarization, with ratings of around 50% for Gov. Bill Lee, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and the Tennessee State Legislature. Blackburn’s approval showed the greatest party distinction with 79% and 88% of non-MAGA and MAGA Republicans, respectively, compared to 11% of Democrats.
Less than half (47%) of respondents said they think Tennessee and the United States are on the right track. The majority of those who said Tennessee is on the right track are Republicans, and the majority of those who think Tennessee is headed in the wrong direction are Democrats.
Sixty-one percent of respondents said they view the state of the U.S. economy as fairly or very bad, compared to 38% expressing the same sentiment about the state of the Tennessee economy. Geer outlined some potential repercussions of the public’s concern for the state of the national economy.
“President Trump is risking a political backlash if his policies end up generating so much uncertainty that the economy lags and leads to a possible recession,” Geer said. “Many Americans voted for him with the belief he will be good for the economy. If that turns out not to be true, his support and standing will suffer leading to possible losses in next year’s elections.”
