People favor confirmation hearings for Supreme Court vacancy in 2020: Poll
From WWW.WASHINGTONEXAMINER.COM
A new poll conducted shortly before the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg revealed that an overwhelming majority of U. S. adults of all political stripes supported holding hearings for a nominee if a vacancy opened on the nation's highest bench.
Marquette University released the survey results on Saturday that showed 67% of adults believed the Senate should hold a hearing if a vacancy occurred during 2020's race, with only 32% opposition — and similar strong numbers across Republicans, Democrats, and independents, who supported holding confirmation hearings at 68-31%, 63-37%, and 71-28% respectively. The poll was completed three days before the death of Ginsburg, the 87-year-old liberal icon who was nominated by President Bill Clinton and confirmed in 1993. Ginsburg earned praise from Democrats and Republicans upon news of her death.
Ginsburg’s death in the middle of 2020's election drew comparisons to the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the 79-year-old conservative icon, Ronald Reagan appointee, and longtime Ginsburg friend, 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 the 2016 election should fill the vacancy.
The new poll showed that the majority of U. S. adults disagreed with blocking Garland's nomination, with 45% of Republicans saying it was right not to hold hearings for Garland and 54% saying it was wrong, while only 15% of Democrats thought it was right and 84% thought it was wrong, with 20-78% among independents. The poll was conducted between Sept. 8 and Sept. 15 with 1,523 adults nationwide interviewed online and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
With Ginsburg's death, a lot of scrutiny is being placed on what President Trump and others have said over the years about nominating and voting on a Supreme Court pick amid an election year, particularly after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Friday evening that he would put up a Trump nominee for a vote in the upper chamber.
Back in 2016, Trump said, "I think the next president should make the pick, and I think they shouldn’t go forward, and I believe I’m pretty much in line with what the Republicans are saying."
Fast forward to Saturday. “GOP — We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court Justices. We have this obligation, without delay!” Trump tw... (Read more)
Tweets mentioned:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1307321159113936896
Submitted 1311 days ago
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