Despite a series of recent polls saying otherwise, two surveys see Tennessee's U.S. Senate race between Republican nominee Marsha Blackburn and Democrat Phil Bredesen as a dead heat.

On Friday, East Tennessee State University and Targoz Strategic Marketing, a Nashville-based firm, released two separate polls that showed Blackburn and Bredesen tied.

The ETSU poll found 44 percent of likely voters saying they supported each candidate. The poll did not indicate how many respondents remained undecided.

In the Targoz survey, 48 percent of likely and early voters supported Blackburn and Bredesen.

The Targoz poll was conducted with 480 likely voters — 228 of whom said they already voted — between Oct. 28 and Oct. 31.

In mid-October, Targoz released another poll it previously did on the race that found Blackburn with a two-point lead over Bredesen.

The ETSU survey, conducted on landlines and cell phones between Oct. 22 and Oct. 29, had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. A total of 610 likely voters were surveyed.

The two new polls are the first this week to show that the race remains a dead heat. Five other polls released earlier in the week, including ones from NBC/Marist, Fox News and CNN, have shown Blackburn's lead ranging from 4 points to 9 points.

According to the ETSU survey, Bredesen is enjoying significant support among independent voters. Forty six percent of independents surveyed said they supported the former governor, while 35 percent favored Blackburn.

Bredesen also netted 6 percent support from Republican respondents while Blackburn was favored by 3 percent of Democrats.

Bredesen has a healthy lead among women, with 51 percent of such respondents saying they favored him, compared to 38 percent for Blackburn.

Similarly, Blackburn has a major advantage among men, with 57 percent of such respondents supporting her, while 35 percent favored Bredesen.

Beyond the U.S. Senate race, the ETSU poll found Republican gubernatorial nominee Bill Lee with a 12-point advantage over Democrat Karl Dean.

According to the poll, 48 percent of those surveyed supported Lee, compared to 36 percent for Dean. As many as 9 percent of respondents were undecided on the race.

The poll from Targoz found Lee with just a nine point edge over Dean. Fifty-two percent of respondents said they favored Lee, while 43 percent supported Dean.

Early voting in the Nov. 6 midterm election ended Thursday.

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

Cygnal poll:New poll from Alabama-based Cygnal shows Blackburn with 6-point lead over Bredesen

Emerson and CNN polls:Emerson poll shows Blackburn up by 8 points over Bredesen; new CNN poll gives her 4-point edge

Fox News poll:Blackburn extends lead over Bredesen to 9 percentage points in new Fox News poll