Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump pauses while addressing supporters during a campaign event at Crosby High School in Waterbury, Conn., Saturday, April 23, 2016. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

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By News Sentinel Staff

In a head-to-head match up with Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump — the presumptive Republican nominee — has a 9-point advantage among registered voters in Tennessee, according to a new Vanderbilt University poll.

The finding is among many released as part of an annual poll of more than 1,000 Tennesseans.

Despite the relatively close numbers, John Geer, a political scientist professor involved in analyzing the poll results, said he believes the presidential race in Tennessee will not be competitive.

"I just don't think it's all that likely," he said.

Geer said when Vanderbilt performed its poll during the 2012 presidential race between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor had a 7-point lead on the Democrat.

Romney ended up winning Tennessee, taking 59 percent of the overall vote to Obama's 39 percent.

Pointing to a finding in the latest poll that indicates as many as 13 percent of registered voters would not vote for either Trump or Clinton, Geer said it makes sense because there are a lot of Republicans who are not happy with the real estate mogul.

"The question is how many Republicans will come home to Trump," he said.

Among Democrats, 83 percent support Clinton, 5 percent favor Trump and 7 percent said they would not support either. Among Republicans, 78 percent support Trump while 3 percent favor Clinton. As many as 12 percent of registered Republicans said they would not vote for either candidate.

Similarly, among Tea Party-aligned voters, as many as 76 percent said they would support Trump, while Clinton garnered support from just 14 percent. Five percent of Tea Party supporters said they would not support either of the two.

Among independents, 34 percent supported Clinton, 40 percent favored Trump and 19 percent said they would not support either.

Broken down by gender, Trump had a commanding advantage among men. Fifty-one percent of men favored Trump, while 31 percent sided with Clinton. About 13 percent of men said neither would do.

Among women, Trump and Clinton have identical support, with 39 percent. About 14 percent of female respondents said they didn't support either.

The Vanderbilt poll, which covered a multitude of other topics including Tennesseans feelings toward Gov. Bill Haslam, was conducted between April 25 and May 11. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.