Support among Americans for the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is the second highest for any nominee since 1987, Gallup polling shows.
Fifty-eight percent of Americans supported confirming Jackson, with 22 percent opposed and 19 percent saying they had no opinion. Only Chief Justice John Roberts (nominated in 2005) scored higher, with 59 percent of Americans supporting his confirmation.
Democrats expressed overwhelming support for Jackson, with 88 percent supporting her confirmation, compared to 55 percent of independents and 31 percent of Republicans.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
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.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Gallup began conducting these surveys when Robert Bork was nominated to the court in 1987. Only 31 percent of Americans said the Senate should vote to confirm Bork, and his nomination was eventually withdrawn.
No polling was conducted for nominees Stephen Breyer (nominated in 1994), David Souter (1990), and Anthony Kennedy (1987).
For the 12 nominees for whom Gallup conducted polling, the average level of support for confirmation was 48 percent. The average share of respondents who chose "no opinion" was 23 percent.
Of the 12 nominees, Justice Amy Coney Barrett was by far the most polarizing: 51 percent of Americans supported her nomination with 46 percent opposed. Only 3 percent had no opinion.
Polling for Justice Brett Kavanaugh (41 percent in favor, 37 percent opposed, and 22 percent undecided) was conducted before he was publicly accused of sexual assault.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.