47% support Sotomayor's confirmation

[Thrill]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Days before the start of Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings, a new national poll indicates that by a narrow margin, Americans would like the Senate to confirm her as the next Supreme Court justice.

In a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Friday, 47 percent of people questioned would like to see the Senate vote in favor of Sotomayor's confirmation, with 40 percent opposed and 13 percent unsure.

Sotomayor, a New York federal appeals court judge, was nominated by President Obama in May to succeed retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter.

The poll suggests a partisan divide, with nearly seven in 10 Democrats supporting Sotomayor's confirmation, Independents split, and nearly two out of three Republicans opposing Senate confirmation.

"Republican opposition to Sotomayor's confirmation is a higher level of opposition from the party out of power than any Supreme Court nominee has faced in the past two decades," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

Only 32 percent of Republicans opposed Ruth Ginsburg's 1993 nomination by President Bill Clinton to the high court, Holland said.

"In 2005, when it was the GOP's turn to appoint justices, only 35 percent of Democrats opposed John Roberts, and 46 percent of Democrats opposed Samuel Alito the following year," Holland said. "And even when Bush nominated Harriet Miers, opposition among Democrats to her confirmation hit only 53 percent."

The poll also indicates that Americans are split over whether senators are justified in voting against Sotomayor, based solely on her stand on the issues.

Americans seem to agree that the confirmation hearings in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which begin Monday, could turn into a partisan battle.

Six out of 10 said a major fight between Democrats and Republicans will occur, with 38 percent saying that the hearings will be a relatively easy process with bipartisan agreement.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/10/sotomayor.poll/index.html

Another example of Democrats allowing Republicans to win the debate in my opinion.

[sandnsea]

1. No. Another example of the "liberal media"

who have only presented the attacks from the right, as well as the complete unwillingness of the right to be reasonable about anything. Not to mention the left being more concerned with attacking the Administration than finding any common ground to fight for.

[BeyondGeography]

2. Sucky numbers

[saltpoint]

3. I think she'll do well. I'm encouraged by this nomination and hope

she encounters no more than reflexive and shallow resistance among Republicans in the Senate.

The SCOTUS would be strengthened by Judge Sotomayor. The GOP has no compelling case against her.

[olegramps]

4. The Republicans couldn't be more helpful.

I hope that they do everything they can to insult her and block her being appointed. Nothing could be better to expose them as racist hypocrites and insure that the largest and growing contingent of Americans, minorities, will be voting for Democrats for years to come.

[WI_DEM]

5. Just get her confirmed for Gawd's sake! the senate can't do anything quickly.

[Jennicut]

6. Alito was nominated in Oct and voted on in the Senate in January so I think its a normally long

process.

[SuperTrouper]

7. As usual, the Dems let the GOP frame the debate when they tried to demonize

her as "reverse racist" for the "wise Latina" comments. These accusations, albeit wild and stupid, were left unanswered and they began to percolate in the people's psyche. Now they will bring the New Haven firefighter to try to label her as reverse racist (Gingrich, Hannity, Limbaugh, etc) and Pat Leahy should hit them hard if they start with this line of attack. Once again the GOP frames the debate and the whorish MSM runs with it :mad:

[eleny]

8. I'm looking forward to the hearings starting next week nt