Kavanaugh and the Midterms

In Defying the Odds, we discuss how the issue of Supreme Court nominations affected the 2016 race.

Susan Page at USA Today:

More Americans oppose than support the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, a new USA TODAY/Ipsos Public Affairs Poll finds, an unprecedented level of disapproval for a nominee to the nation's high court.

Amid allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh, those surveyed say by 40 percent to 31 percent that the Senate shouldn't vote to approve his nomination, the first time a plurality of Americans have opposed a Supreme Court nominee since polling on the issue began. Nonetheless, they also are inclined to believe he will, in the end, be confirmed: Just 11 percent predict he won't; 45 percent say he will.

The findings underscore the serious political stakes – and the potential for blowback in the midterm elections now little more than six weeks away.

From Gallup:

 Support for Prior Supreme Court Nominees, Final Survey, 1987-2018

Would you like to see the Senate vote in favor of […] serving on the Supreme Court, or not?

	Vote in favor	Not vote in favor	Margin
	%	%	pct. pts.
Brett Kavanaugh	39	42	-3
Neil Gorsuch	45	32	+13
Merrick Garland	52	29	+23
Elena Kagan	46	36	+10
Sonia Sotomayor	55	36	+19
Samuel Alito	54	30	+24
Harriet Miers	42	43	-1
John Roberts	60	26	+34
Ruth Bader Ginsburg	53	14	+39
Clarence Thomas	58	30	+28
Robert Bork	38	35	+3
Reading for Kavanaugh is latest. Gallup did not measure support for the nominations of Anthony Kennedy, David Souter or Stephen Breyer. Gallup measured support for Neil Gorsuch, Merrick Garland and Ruth Bader Ginsburg just once, shortly after each was first nominated.
Gallup