Baker Group Strategies released a new poll on Friday, surveying voter attitudes in Davidson County, with a particular focus on Nashville Electric Service’s (NES) response to Winter Storm Fern and Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s job approval.
The survey of 418 likely Davidson County voters was conducted February 9-12, 2026.
The poll shows a resounding dissatisfaction with NES following the winter storm, which caused one of the largest outages in the utility’s history.
At the storm’s peak, approximately 230,000 NES customers were without power due to ice and tree damage across the service area, which includes customers in Davidson County and surrounding counties.
A total of 74 percent of the poll’s respondents said they were among the utility’s customers who lost electrical power during the storm.
Just 30% of voters are satisfied with the way NES responded to the recent winter ice storm, while over two-thirds of voters (67%) are dissatisfied, including 40% who say they are very dissatisfied.
— Baker Group Strategies (@BakerGrpStrat) February 13, 2026
Only 30 percent of voters said they were satisfied with NES’ handling of the storm, while 67 percent said they were dissatisfied, including 40 percent who said they were “very dissatisfied.”
When asked who they held responsible for the city’s problems during the storm, 47 percent of voters said NES, 15 percent blamed the Metro Office of Emergency Management, and 9 percent blamed the mayor.
The poll also found that 40 percent of voters believe the CEO of NES, Teresa Broyles-Aplin, should be fired, with a majority (51 percent) of voters in West Nashville saying she should be dismissed.
By contrast, the poll found more favorable views of O’Connell.
The mayor has a 55 percent approval rating, compared with 38 percent disapproval, according to the poll. His favorable image rating stands at 54 percent, with 36 percent viewing him unfavorably.
On O’Connell’s handling of the ice storm specifically, 49 percent of voters said they were satisfied with how he responded, while 44 percent said they were dissatisfied.
O’Connell’s favorable ratings come as the poll notably found that only 37 percent of voters believe Nashville is heading in the right direction, while 50 percent say the city has “pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Nashville Electric Service Workers” by Nashville Electric Service.
