Poll finds Donald Trump's support dips while Tennesseans remain solidly divided over impeachment

Joel Ebert | Nashville Tennessean

Show Caption Hide Caption Sen. Lamar Alexander responds to question about the impeachment of President Trump Sen. Lamar Alexander responds to question about the impeachment of Pres. Trump

While still popular in Tennessee, President Donald Trump has lost some support in the state, according to the latest poll from Vanderbilt University.

The poll also showed Tennesseans remain split on impeachment efforts.

The poll, released Tuesday, found Trump's approval rating at 50% , which is his lowest in Tennessee since Dec. 2017. The president's approval rating is down four percentage points from the university's last poll in May.

Trump has seen a similar effect in conservative states across the country, including Arizona.

At the same time, 46% of Tennesseans disapprove of Trump, up from 44% earlier this year.

Despite the change, Vanderbilt political scientist John Geer, who directs the survey, said the results are not alarming.

“There’s not enough to suggest Trump’s in trouble in the state by any means,” Geer said.

Geer, however, noted Trump lost some support in suburban areas.

“Something new we’re seeing is that he’s dropped about 10 points in the suburbs,” Geer said. “This reflects a broader trend of suburban discontent with President Trump across the country.”

In terms of impeachment, the poll found Tennesseans are solidly divided.

“As you might imagine, there’s a huge partisan split,” Geer said.

RELATED: 76% of Tennesseans want Confederate bust removed from Capitol, Vanderbilt Poll finds

USA TODAY POLL: Impeached or not, Trump leads his Democratic rivals for another term

Asked about Trump's role in offering to "trade military aid to Ukraine for investigating former Vice President Joe Biden," 34% of respondents said Trump did nothing wrong. Sixteen percent said Trump did something wrong but should not be impeached.

Conversely, 35% of Tennesseans said the president broke the law and should be impeached and removed from office. Just 7% of respondents said Trump broke the law and should be impeached but not removed from office.

Geer said rather than merely asking about impeachment, Vanderbilt Poll sought to “sort out” whether people also thought Trump did something wrong.

“Only a third of the state thought what he did wasn’t wrong,” Geer said.

NATIONAL POLL: Narrow majority opposes removing Trump from office if he is impeached

In other questions, Vanderbilt's latest survey found Gov. Bill Lee remains the most popular politician in Tennessee, with an approval rating of 62%, up one percentage point from earlier this year.

The state legislature's approval rating was 56%, which is the highest since May 2018.

Lawmakers on the national level fared worse. Congress had an approval rating of 28%, while approval of U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Marsha Blackburn was 46% and 44%, respectively.

The survey was conducted by the Vanderbilt University Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions between Nov. 19 and Dec. 5, with 1,000 registered voters polled. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

Want to read more stories like this? A subscription to one of our Tennessee publications gets you unlimited access to all the latest politics news, podcasts like Grand Divisions, plus newsletters, a personalized mobile experience and the ability to tap into stories, photos and videos from throughout the USA TODAY Network's 109 local sites.

Reach Joel Ebert at jebert@tennessean.com or 615-772-1681 and on Twitter @joelebert29.