The Senate Republican push to quickly confirm Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett appears to be gaining support from American voters.
A new Morning Consult/Politico poll, released Wednesday, shows a plurality of registered voters now favor confirming Barrett to the high court, 46-31 percent, with 23 percent saying they don’t know or don’t have an opinion. Support for confirming Barrett increased nine points from one week earlier, when the same question was asked.
The new poll of roughly 2,000 voters was taken after President Trump introduced Barrett Sept. 26 as his choice to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It was conducted Oct. 2-4. The earlier poll, which showed voters favoring confirmation by a slim margin of 37-34 percent, was taken Sept. 26.
“Democrats are losing the Supreme Court messaging war,” Morning Consult said in an online analysis.
Republicans (77-7 percent) and independents (36-31 percent) favor confirming Barrett, while Democrats oppose it (only 24 percent of Democrats back confirmation). Support for Barrett’s confirmation has grown by 10 points among Democrats, eight points among independents and six points among Republicans.
The GOP is pushing to confirm Barrett prior to the election. Hearings are scheduled to begin next week.
On a slightly different question, voters also back Barrett’s confirmation even if President Trump loses in November.
A plurality (43 percent) say the Senate “should vote on confirming Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court as soon as possible, regardless of what might happen in the 2020 presidential election.” Fewer Americans (37 percent) say the Senate “should only vote on confirming Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court if President Trump wins the 2020 presidential election.”
Vice President Pence, during Wednesday’s debate, defended Barrett’s nomination.
“She’s a brilliant woman and she will bring a lifetime of experience and a sizeable American family to the Supreme Court of the United States, and our hope is in the hearing next week, unlike Justice Kavanaugh received with treatment from you and others, that we hope she gets a fair hearing,” Pence said, addressing Democratic Sen. and Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla/Staff
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
