However the battle for District Attorney General — by general consent the key one on this year’s county ballot — turns out, new polling data shows that both incumbent Republican DA Amy Weirich and Democratic challenger Steve Mulroy are dealing with a changed electorate — one more disposed than before to criminal justice reform.
The latest Vanderbilt University poll shows that 70 percent of Tennessee’s registered voters favor “a complete overhaul” or “major changes” of accepted procedures, with 82 percent of Democrats expressing themselves in favor of reform, and 63 percent of Republicans doing so.
Some 53 of all those polled preferred life imprisonment without the possibility of parole to the death penalty. Fifty-two percent of Republicans favor the death penalty, while 66 percent of Democrats prefer the life-imprisonment option.
Both Democrats and Republicans have moved perceptibly away from favoring the death penalty since the last poll in spring 2011, which was before Governor Bill Lee’s decision last month to pause executions in Tennessee through 2022. In 2011, 55 percent supported the death penalty over life in prison for convicted murderers.
Importantly, 72 percent of those surveyed say they support the use of taxpayer dollars for rehabilitation programs such as mental healthcare or addiction treatment for criminal offenders. Such support is advocated by 84 percent of Democrats, 77 percent of Independents, and 58 percent of Republicans.
This latest Vanderbilt poll was co-directed by John Geer, Ginny and Conner Searcy, Josh Clinton, and Abby and Jon Winkelried.
The poll also showed Tennesseans sharply divided on abortion, with 48 percent identifying as pro-choice and 50 percent as pro-life. Overall, 36 percent of respondents said abortion should be legal in all cases. Among Democrats, 70 percent favored legal abortions, while only 8 percent of Republicans favored pro-choice legislation.
Some 80 percent of respondents favor abortion in cases of rape and incest or when the health of the mother is at stake.
On the economy, only 27 percent of those polled see the American economy to be in good shape, a drop of 20 percent from the year before.
Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the most frequently mentioned likely contenders for the presidency in 2024, were held in diminished regard by those polled.
Among Democrats, 79 percent of those polled said they approve of Biden’s performance, as against 92 percent who did so last year. Only 31 percent of all those polled approved of Biden’s performance — down from 39 percent last year around this time — and only 25 percent said they hope Biden runs for re-election.
Similarly, just 38 percent of those polled said they want Trump to run for U.S. president in 2024, down from 44 percent in December 2021. Even Republicans showed declining interest in a new Trump campaign with only 68 percent expressing approval, down 11 points from December 2021.
GOP Governor Bill Lee earned a 56 percent approval from those polled, roughly equivalent to last year’s polling. By party, 80 percent of Republicans said they’d vote to re-elect Lee compared with only 7 percent of Democrats.
