Poll: Americans more divided over Kavanaugh than any other recent Supreme Court pick

Polled Democratic and Republican voters are split on whether the Senate should confirm President Trump’s latest Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll released Wednesday.

There is a large split along party lines on whether Kavanaugh should become the next associate justice.

Only a small fraction of Democratic respondents — 17 percent — said that the Senate should approve Kavanaugh, compared to a majority of Republicans — 71 percent — saying he should be confirmed, according to the survey. 

Trump tapped Kavanaugh for the high court last week, days after Justice Anthony Kennedy announced that he would retire from the Supreme Court this summer.

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If Kavanaugh is confirmed to the post, it would cement a conservative majority on the court for what is likely to be decades. Kennedy was often seen as the court’s swing vote, siding with conservatives on issues like religious freedom and liberals on other matters, such as gay rights and abortion.

Whether seating Kavanaugh on the court could pave the way for overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that struck down state laws banning or restricting abortion, has emerged as a tense issue in the debate over his nomination.

But according to the Politico/Morning Consult poll, 59 percent of the polled registered voters believe that the precedent set by Roe v. Wade should remain in place regardless of if Kavanaugh is confirmed.

Republicans are gearing up to hold a vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination before the midterm elections in November, while Democrats are seeking to postpone a vote until after the elections.

That’s also a point of division between Democratic and Republican respondents to the poll. Sixty-nine percent of Republicans said that the Senate should go ahead and hold a vote on Kavanaugh before the midterms while only 18 percent of Democrats agreed.

The Politico/Morning Consult poll comes on the heels of a Pew Research Center survey that shows opposition among respondents to Kavanaugh’s nomination is higher than it has been for any other nominee in recent history.

The Politico/Morning Consult poll surveyed 1,991 registered voters from July 13-14. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.