Poll: Majority of Americans Want Samuel Alito on Supreme Court

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Dec 21, 2005   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Poll: Majority of Americans Want Samuel Alito on Supreme Court Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 21, 2005

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A new poll conducted by ABC News finds a majority of Americans want the Senate to approve federal appeals court judge Samuel Alito for a position on the Supreme Court. President Bush nominated Alito to replace outgoing pro-abortion Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Some 54 percent of those polled say they want Alito to serve on the Supreme Court, up from 49 percent in an early November poll. Just 28 percent opposed confirming Alito, down from 29 percent last month.

About 19 percent still have no opinion about Alito, but that’s down from 22 percent in the last poll.

The results compare favorably with the same poll conducted on John Roberts’ chief justice nomination. About 55 percent of Americans backed his bid while 26 percent opposed it.

The ABC News/Washington Post poll also found that a majority of Americans want Alito to vote to uphold the Roe v. Wade abortion ruling, though pollsters did not tell respondents that the 1973 decision allowed abortion on demand throughout pregnancy.

Some 61 percent of Americans said they wanted Alito to uphold Roe while 35 percent said they wanted him to overturn it. That’s a change from a 64-31 split in the November poll.

Women were more likely to want Alito to uphold Roe than men, Democrats more likely than independents or Republicans, evangelical Christians more likely than those attending mainline Protestant churches, and weekly churchgoers more likely than those who attend church less frequently.

Demonstrating the problem with the overturning Roe question, the poll also found that 42 percent of Americans want to make abortions harder to obtain while just 11 percent want to make them easier. About 45 percent said they wanted to keep abortion’s status the same.

Still, Americans generally believe that it’s to important that Alito agree with their abortion position.

The poll found 43 percent say it is important for Alito to agree with them on abortion and 55 percent say it’s not important.

Other polls have found a majority of Americans take a pro-life position or oppose most abortions.

This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by telephone Dec. 15-18, 2005, among a random national sample of 1,003 adults. The results have a three-point error margin.