Most Americans support Kagan's nomination to Supreme Court, poll finds

Source: Washington Post

By Jon Cohen

Nearly six in 10 Americans say the Senate should vote to confirm U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court, but most also want her to answer questions about how she would have decided past cases and to reveal her stand on legal abortion.

At 58 percent in the new Washington Post-ABC News poll, public support for Kagan's confirmation is on par with that for now-Justice Sonia Sotomayor when she was tapped last year as President Obama's first nominee for the court. About a quarter, 24 percent, oppose Kagan; 18 percent express no opinion.

Democrats overwhelmingly back the president's pick, who would become the third woman serving on the nine-justice court, as do independents, by about a 2 to 1 ratio. More than a third of Republicans also support Kagan's confirmation, putting her cross-party support exactly where Sotomayor's was before her hearings started.

Last June, 36 percent of Republicans backed Sotomayor, with 43 percent opposed, precisely where Kagan's Republican numbers are now. But in a poll taken a month later, as the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Sotomayor were wrapping up, GOP opposition to her confirmation spiked to 57 percent.


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/11/AR2010061101833.html?hpid=topnews

Any republican opposition is merely for show.

When are the far right wingers going to retire? It's about time to replace them with some moderates or liberals.

Would be great to see the teabaggers crying over that!

Souter, Stevens, Kennedy all appointed by Republican presidents and none particularly ideological unlike the recent appointees.

vote with Ginsburg, et al., but Kennedy is not in the same category as Souter and Stevens.

But I'm just speculating that Kennedy might not necessarily feel the need to wait for a Republican president before retiring. if he should decide to do so.

expound on the respective vita and positions pf any Justice. So, how meaningful is this poll?