These poll numbers were released earlier today by Rasmussen Reports -- "an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information."
39% Favor Kagan's Confirmation to Supreme Court, 39% Oppose
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan spent the past week introducing herself to the Senate and to the nation, but U.S. voters remain evenly divided over whether she should be confirmed for the high court.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 39% of voters believe Kagan should be confirmed by the Senate, while another 39% say she should not be confirmed. Twenty-two percent (22%) are not sure.
A week ago, immediately following President Obama's announcement of her nomination , 33% said she should be confirmed, 33% disagreed, and 34% were undecided. By way of comparison, support for Kagan's confirmation is a bit lower than support for Judge Sonia Sotomayor a week after her nomination. In both cases, support declined slightly in the week following the nomination.
Virtually unchanged from last week is the finding that 83% of all voters think it is at least somewhat likely that Kagan will be confirmed, including 55% who say confirmation is Very Likely.
The survey of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters was conducted on May 16-17, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC . See methodology .
Kagan's unfavorables have risen slightly over the past week. Forty-three percent (43%) now have at least a somewhat favorable opinion of the nominee, while 44% view her unfavorably. A week ago, those numbers were 45% favorable and 39% unfavorable.
The current numbers include 15% with a Very Favorable view and 21% with a Very Unfavorable one.
Kagan, former dean of the Harvard Law School and current U.S. solicitor general, is now seen as ideologically liberal by 47% of voters. That's up from 43% a week ago. Thirty-two percent (32%) now say she's politically moderate, while just three percent (3%) view her as a conservative. Eighteen percent (18%) are not sure.
Seventy percent (70%) of conservative voters regard Kagan as a liberal, but 62% of liberals say she's a moderate.
Kagan's confirmation hearings have yet to be scheduled, but 56% of voters believe it is fair for a U.S. senator to oppose an otherwise qualified court nominee because of disagreements over ideology or judicial philosophy .
The president's new nominee is intended to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, 90, the court's oldest serving member. Although appointed by Republican President Gerald Ford in 1975, Stevens has long been viewed as a reliably liberal vote on the court.
Support for Kagan's confirmation among Democrats has jumped dramatically over the past week from 47% to 68%.
Opposition among Republicans has risen from 54% in the previous survey to 61%. Among voters not affiliated with either party, 32% favor confirmation, while 42% are opposed, up eight points from a week ago.
Eighty-one percent (81%) of voters say they are following news stories about the Supreme Court nominee at least somewhat closely. Nineteen percent (19%) are not following this news closely, if at all.