Support for a swift Senate confirmation for Amy Coney Barrett to become the next Supreme Court Justice after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is on the rise, according to a new poll.
Forty-three percent of registered voters believe the Senate should vote on confirming Barrett to the Supreme Court as soon as possible, regardless of what might happen in the 2020 presidential election, while a smaller 37% believe the Senate should only vote on confirming Barrett if President Trump wins his 2020 reelection, according to the results of a Morning Consult and Politico survey released on Wednesday. This marks a shift from a Sept. 26 poll in which the numbers were nearly reversed as 39% supported a quick vote, while 40% wanted to wait to see who wins the presidential contest.
The results from the October poll on the question of which direction the Senate should go when the vote is actually held skew even more in Barrett’s favor, with a near-majority of 46% of registered voters believing the judge should be confirmed, while only 31% do not. The new poll, conducted among roughly 2,000 registered voters between Friday and Sunday with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, shows that support for Barrett’s confirmation to the highest court in the land has grown since the announcement of her despite efforts by Senate Democrats to delay and oppose her nomination.
The fresh polling snapshot aligns with a newly released Washington Examiner/YouGov survey that found 51% of voters would like to wait before the presidential inauguration, compared to 42% who disagree.
The death of Ginsburg, the 87-year-old liberal icon who was nominated by President Bill Clinton and confirmed in 1993, in the middle of 2020’s election drew comparisons to the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the 79-year-old conservative icon and Ronald Reagan appointee who died in February 2016 during the Democratic and Republican primaries. President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, to fill Scalia’s vacancy that March. But Senate Republicans declined to hold confirmation hearings or a vote, arguing that they wouldn’t confirm a justice appointed by a lame-duck president of the opposite party and that the winner in 2016 should fill the vacancy. The Senate is currently controlled by Republicans, and Trump is up for reelection, and the president announced Barrett’s nomination in a Rose Garden ceremony on Sept. 26.
The new poll from Morning Consult and Politico shows opposition to Barrett from Democrats softening and support from Republicans and independents rising. In late September, 37% of all voters said the Senate should vote to confirm Barrett and 34% were opposed. However, the early October numbers show 46% support for her confirmation and only 31% opposed. Among Democrats, only 14% had been in favor, but that number has risen to 24%, while opposition has fallen from 59% to 52%. Republicans had been 71% in favor of Barrett’s confirmation, but that has ticked up to 77% support, with opposition remaining flat at 7%. There has been a bit of movement in Barrett’s favor from independents as well, with support rising from 28% to 36% while opposition has remained flat at 31%.
In the Washington Examiner/YouGov survey of 1,200 registered voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points, voters largely broke down along partisan lines on the question of when to confirm the next justice. Republicans want to proceed before the inauguration by 90% to 6%, while Democrats favor waiting by 88% to 8%. An overwhelming majority said the Supreme Court nomination was important to their 2020 vote, including 84% of Republicans and 81% of Democrats. Overall, 58% considered it “very important” and another 21% “somewhat important.”
A number of senators, including Judiciary Committee members Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days.
Democratic vice presidential nominee and California Sen. Kamala Harris said Monday that “moving forward” with Barrett’s confirmation hearing “threatens the health and safety” of senators. Numerous judicial hearings have been held both in-person and virtually since the pandemic began, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said over the weekend that there would be no change to the schedule for Barrett’s confirmation and that the confirmation hearings would proceed on Monday. Graham has called Barrett an “outstanding” pick and vowed to hold a “challenging, fair, and respectful hearing.”
