Amy Coney Barrett’s first impression with voters tops Brett Kavanaugh
Bottom Line: On July 19th 2018, in a story entitled “What we think about Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh”, I shared the first accredited polling regarding our view of him. This was well before we heard the trumped-up allegations of sexual assault and learned of his collegiate affinity for beer. What the Pew Research Center found was that by a 41% to 36%, or five-point margin, our collective first impression was that Brett Kavanaugh was a good choice for the high court who should be confirmed. With that in mind the first accredited pollster in with results on Amy Coney Barrett is Rasmussen. Here are the results:
- 37% support her nomination
- 30% oppose her nomination
- 33% are unsure (generally unaware of her)
Amy starts out with 2% greater support than Brett Kavanaugh. That’s especially notable given the timing in proximity to Election Day and the strong views against the timing of the nomination, aside from the individual nominated. It remains to be seen whether this issue is a winning one for President Trump, however the initial temperature check would seem to suggest that at a minimum it isn’t a losing one. Related, the judiciary is the most overlooked area of success by the GOP controlled Senate and by the President himself. Should Amy Coney Barrett be confirmed to the high court, President Trump would have one more Supreme Court Justice in fewer than four years, than President Obama had in eight – along with pacing the second most federal judicial confirmations of any President in history. A full 29% of federal judges in the United States are Trump appointments.