New Poll Shows Just 41 Percent Favor Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court Post
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 31, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A new Rasmussen poll finds just 41 percent say they favor adding appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor on the Supreme Court. The Senate is expected to vote on her confirmation next week — and will likely confirm her — to replace retiring pro-abortion Justice David Souter.
Leading pro-life organizations oppose the Sotomayor nomination because they say she will likely advocate abortion on the high court.
The Rasmussen telephone survey of Americans finds 41 percent believe Sotomayor should be confirmed, while 37 percent oppose her confirmation.
A large contingent of those polled, 21 percent, aren’t sure whether the Senate should confirm the woman who would become the first Hispanic on the high court.
There’s been little change in voters’ views of Sotomayor since the end of her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings nearly two weeks ago. At that time, Rasmussen found 43 percent favored her confirmation and 39 percent were opposed.
On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved President Barack Obama’s first Supreme Court nomination on a 13-6 mostly party-line vote. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a pro-life Republican from South Carolina, joined the panel’s Democrats to back Sotomayor.
The new Rasmussen poll found a largely party-line position on Sotomayor among Americans with 60 percent of Democrats backing her bid and 62 percent of Republicans opposed. Independent voters are evenly split on her confirmation.
Forty-five percent of voters have a favorable opinion of Sotomayor, while 48% view her unfavorably and 51 percent say Sotomayor is a liberal while 29% view her as a moderate. Just four percent of Americans say Sotomayor is conservative in her legal approach and 16 percent are unsure.
Looking at the current Supreme Court, which has, at minimum, a 5-4 composition in favor of unlimited abortions under roe v. Wade, 31 percent of voters say the high court is too liberal while just 20 percent say it is too conservative.
Other polls have also found Americans split on Sotomayor.
A Zogby poll released earlier this week showed, of those voters who say they have learned enough about Sotomayor to make a decision, 49 percent favor her confirmation and 49 percent oppose it.
Even Hispanic voters are roughly split on Sotomayor, as 47 percent favor her confirmation and 43 percent oppose it.
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