2 in 3 in new poll support Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination

A majority of respondents support the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, a new poll from Marquette Law School showed.

In the survey, released Wednesday, 66 percent of respondents said they support Jackson’s nomination and 34 percent said they were opposed.

Based on what respondents said that they heard about Jackson’s legal background and judicial experience, 46 percent said she was very qualified to serve on the Supreme Court, 42 percent said she was somewhat qualified and 12 percent said they thought that she was not qualified.

In terms of the Supreme Court overall, 45 percent of respondents somewhat approve of the high court’s handling of its job, but only 9 percent strongly approved. 

Thirty-three percent of respondents somewhat approved of the job being done by the Supreme Court and 12 percent strongly disapproved of the court’s overall performance.

On the court’s ideological leanings, 37 percent of those surveyed said it was somewhat conservative, and 36 percent said it was moderate. Fifteen percent called the court very conservative, 10 percent called it was liberal and 2 percent said it was very liberal. 

The poll comes as Jackson, President Biden’s first nomination to the Supreme Court, is increasingly likely to be confirmed.

To be confirmed, she will likely need the support of all 50 Democrats in the Senate with Vice President Harris casting a tie-breaking vote in the evenly split upper chamber. 

Last week, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he would vote to confirm Jackson. The moderate Democrat was not expected to oppose the nomination but was considered an uncertain vote along with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).