President Obama, and not his successor, should be the one who nominates the next Supreme Court justice, according to a new poll.
Nearly six in 10, 57 percent, said Obama should be able to make the pick, according to a national CNN/ORC poll released Friday. On March 16, the president sent the nomination of D.C. Circuit chief judge Merrick Garland to the Senate.
Another 40 percent said the man or woman elected in November and taking office in January should be the person to fill the vacancy left by the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
The results of the poll were similar to others, with 64 percent to 31 percent saying Senate Republicans should hold hearings on Garland’s nomination. Only 37 percent said opposition to his nomination would be justified on the notion that Garland was tapped by the current and not the next president; 58 percent said it would not be justified.
Another slight majority, 52 percent, said they would like the Senate to confirm Garland should there be a vote, while 33 percent would not favor it and 15 percent had no opinion.
The telephone-based poll of 1,001 U.S. adults nationwide was conducted March 17-20 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
