A growing number of voters say Amy Coney Barrett should be confirmed

(Image credit: ERIN SCOTT/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

published 7 October 2020

America is changing its mind about Amy Coney Barrett just as the Senate is changing its priorities to confirm her.

Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court has become one of the most contentious in history, as it comes just weeks before the 2020 presidential election and would give the court a 6-3 conservative majority. But while just 37 percent of Americans said the Senate should vote to confirm Barrett two weeks ago, many have since changed their mind, a Politico/Morning Consult poll published Wednesday found.

When asked on Sept. 26, an earlier Politico/Morning Consult poll found 34 percent of voters said the Senate should vote to confirm Barrett. Another 37 percent said she should not be confirmed, while 29 percent had no opinion. The undecided crowd shrank in a poll taken Oct. 2–4, to 23 percent, and most have gone in favor of confirming Barrett. Nearly half — 46 percent — of voters now support voting to confirm her, while 31 percent say the Senate should vote no. Gains in support for confirmation came from Democrats, independents, and Republicans.

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Democrats have used Republicans' refusal to hold hearings for former President Barack Obama's nominee Merrick Garland nine months before the 2016 election as evidence to hold up Barrett's nomination this time around. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) claimed at the time the next justice should be chosen by whoever won the presidential election, but has changed his logic this time around.

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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.

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