Washington – A majority of Americans now support the confirmation of U.S. Appeals Court Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court to fill the seat of retiring Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The survey found that 54 percent of the public say the Senate should confirm Alito while 28 percent say he should not be approved.
That marks a modest increase in public support for Alito since November, when 49 percent said he should be confirmed and 29 percent said he should not. In both surveys, about one in five Americans said they did not know enough about the nominee to have an opinion.
Alito now is about as popular as Chief Justice John Roberts was on the eve of his Senate confirmation hearings in September. Roberts easily won Senate approval, breezing through his hearings and winning the vote of all 55 Republican senators and half of their Democratic colleagues. It is uncertain whether Alito will pass so effortlessly through his confirmation process, scheduled to start Jan. 9 with hearings. The Senate hopes to hold a final vote by Jan. 20.
The poll found some evidence that the abortion issue plays an important but not decisive role in shaping public perceptions of Alito. While his current views on abortion are not publicly known, memos he wrote two decades ago, while a lawyer in the Justice Department, indicate he opposed Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion.
Six in 10 say they hope Alito would vote to uphold Roe while just over a third say they want him to vote to overturn it. A majority – 55 percent – said it was of limited importance that Alito supported their position on abortion.
A total of 1,003 randomly selected adults were interviewed Dec. 15-18 for the survey. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
