Far fewer Americans back SCOTUS hearings for Barrett today than supported Garland's hearings in 2016

(Image credit: OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

published 28 September 2020

Republicans see this year's Supreme Court fight differently than they did in 2016. Americans do too.

When former President Barack Obama moved to fill an election-year Supreme Court vacancy in 2016, a Monmouth University poll found 73 percent of voters said the nominee, Merrick Garland, should get a hearing. But this time around, Monmouth found just 53 percent say President Trump's nominee Amy Coney Barrett should be considered.

Trump formally nominated the conservative 7th Circuit judge on Saturday to replace liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Democratic senators have universally said they don't believe Barrett should get a hearing, and most have said they will vote against her nomination because of it. Democratic voters largely agree with their strategy, with just 31 percent saying the Senate should hold hearings to consider Trump's nominee and 67 percent saying they should not, the Monmouth poll found. Meanwhile 73 percent of Republicans say the Senate should hold the hearings, and 60 percent of independents agree.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Back in 2016, the party split on SCOTUS nominations looked pretty different. More than half — 56 percent — of Republicans said Garland should get a hearing that year. Still, Garland's nomination came in March, more than seven months before Election Day, while Barrett's came five weeks before. Garland was also considered a moderate candidate, while Barrett's record has been compared to the conservative Antonin Scalia's.

Explore More

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.