Poll Shows Initial Support for Sonia Sotomayor, First Republican Will Vote No
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 28, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Gallup has released the first poll concerning the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, who has a relatively unknown abortion position, to replace retiring pro-abortion Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. President Barack Obama, who is pro-abortion, nominated the appeals court judge earlier this week.
Asked to rate Obama’s choice, Americans gave him generally supportive ratings with about 47% rating the nomination as "excellent" or "good," 20% rating it "only fair," and 13% rating it "poor."
Another 20 percent of Americans had no opinion yet on the Sotomayor nomination.
The results are based on a one-night poll conducted Tuesday, the same day Obama officially announced Sotomayor as his choice to replace the retiring Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court.
In other news, pro-life Republican Sen. Pat Roberts is the first Senate Republican to indicate he will oppose Sotomayor’s nomination.
KCMO radio talk show host Chris Stigall, in an interview with Roberts, noted how Republicans appear to be scared to oppose Sotomayor.
"Well, I’m a Marine and nothing much scares me, I do not plan to vote for her," he said, according to a Politico report.
He said he voted against Sotomayor’s nomination to the appeals court in 1998.
"I did not feel she was appropriate on the Appeals Court. Since that time, she has made statements on the role of the Appeals Court that I think [are] improper and incorrect," he said of her comments that courts are designed to make public policy.
Meanwhile, the Gallup survey results showed Sotomayor with a net 14 percent positive rating, which is lower than President Bush’s nominee for Chief Justice, John Roberts, who had a 17 percent positive rating. It is higher than Bush’s second Supreme Court pick, Samuel Alito, who had a 4 percent positive rating.
On Sotomayor, Democrats were more supportive and Republicans less supportive of her nomination.
Republicans gave Sotomayor a negative rating of 52-29 percent while Democrats gave her a net positive of 72-17 percent.
Asked about whether they like Sotomayor because of her judicial experience or her standing as a Hispanic woman, Americans prefer the experience over her identity.
While 61 percent cited her 17 years on federal courts as very important just 39 and 34 percent said her status as a woman and Hispanic were very important.
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