People are split on whether President Obama should pick the next Supreme Court justice, according to a new poll.
While 47 percent of respondents in a new CBS/New York Times poll said they would like to see Obama nominate the successor to Justice Antonin Scalia, who died unexpectedly last Saturday, another 46 percent said they would prefer the next president do so.
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As might be expected, party affiliation is a big factor in how people answer the question.
Eighty-two percent of Republican respondents say they want to see the next president pick the Supreme Court justice, while 77 percent of Democrats say that Obama should nominate a replacement for Scalia.
Overall, public support of the nation’s highest court is at its highest level since the question was first asked in 2012, as 49 percent approve of the court and 37 percent disapprove.
The telephone-based poll of 2,008 adults nationwide was conducted Feb. 12-16 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
