Subject: WSJ: 'Public Support Grows for Senate Vote on Supreme Court Seat This Year, Poll Finds'
From: Jeremy Funk <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2016 17:44:32 -0400

KEY POINT: But notably, the poll suggested that Republican opposition to such a vote is starting to erode. Some 24% of Republicans in the survey preferred that the Senate vote this year, up from 16% in March.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/majority-of-voters-want-senate-vote-on-supreme-court-seat-this-year-poll-finds-1461013378?cb=logged0.5434862172097306&cb=logged0.5712078224799702
Public Support Grows for Senate Vote on Supreme Court Seat This Year, Poll Finds
Share of voters who want vote this year rose to 52% in April, up from 48%

By  SIOBHAN HUGHES

Updated April 18, 2016 5:09 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON-Public support for a Senate vote this year to fill a two-month old Supreme Court vacancy has increased since the White House picked Judge Merrick Garland for the seat, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll has found.

The share of voters who would prefer that the Senate vote this year rose to 52% in April, up from 48% in the first week of March, when President Barack Obama was still deciding whom to nominate. The White House had indicated that it would nominate someone with past Republican support who did not have a significantly liberal background before it settled on U.S. Appeals Court Judge Garland<http://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-picks-garland-for-supreme-court-setting-off-high-stakes-fight-with-senate-1458177165>. He is widely viewed as a middle-of-the-road judge who has avoided strong ideological opinions.

Of those polled, roughly three-fourths of Democrats sided with the White House in preferring that the Senate hold a vote this year, a continuation of a sentiment that has been prevalent since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February.

But notably, the poll suggested that Republican opposition to such a vote is starting to erode. Some 24% of Republicans in the survey preferred that the Senate vote this year, up from 16% in March. A slight majority of Republicans-56%-favored waiting to vote until a new president could pick a replacement for Justice Scalia, down from 69% in March who wanted the Senate to wait.

As Republicans grew less resistant to voting on a Supreme Court nominee, liberal support dipped after the president selected Judge Garland. Some 75% of liberals wanted the Senate to vote this year on a replacement, down from 80% in the March survey. Some liberals are privately disappointed that the president picked a moderate for the Supreme Court instead of a nominee with a more liberal record.

The poll didn't measure intensity, the ingredient that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) is counting on as he sticks to a strategy of blocking hearings or a vote until a new president is sworn in<http://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-plots-its-path-on-merrick-garland-supreme-court-nomination-1458169679>. The Republicans are highlighting the intense opposition to a Supreme Court nominee by the National Rifle Association, a small-business group, and some influential grassroots conservative groups who form key parts of the Republican base.

The poll of 1,000 registered voters was conducted April 10-14 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Write to Siobhan Hughes at [email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>

_________________________________________________
Jeremy J. Funk
Communications Director, Americans United for Change
Office: 202.470.5878
Cell: 605.366.3654
[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>
www.AmericansUnitedforChange.org<http://www.AmericansUnitedforChange.org>
Twitter: @jeremyjfunk<https://twitter.com/JeremyJFunk>