Morning Consult reports:
Democrats are losing the Supreme Court messaging war, new polling indicates, with support for Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation trending in the GOP’s direction.
Nearly half (46 percent) of voters in an Oct. 2-4 Morning Consult/Politico poll said the Senate should confirm Barrett — up 9 percentage points since President Donald Trump announced her nomination on Sept. 26 — as more voters say the chamber should consider her elevation to the high court as soon as possible, regardless of who wins next month’s election.
The share of voters who said the Senate should reject her nomination dropped 3 points, to 31 percent, from polling conducted on Sept. 26. Both polls were conducted among roughly 2,000 registered voters each, with 2-point margins of error.
The poll was conducted after the first presidential debate and after President Trump’s COVID diagnosis. Other polls in conducted at the same time have shown a huge break against Trump: A national CNN poll showing Biden leading Trump by 16 points, for example, was conducted October 1-4.
Despite the turn against Trump, voters’ views of Barrett remain positive. The Morning Consult survey also asked voters whether the Senate should vote on confirming Barrett only if Trump wins the election or “as soon as possible, regardless of what might happen in the 2020 presidential election.” By a six-point margin — 43 percent to 37 percent — voters said the Senate should vote as soon as possible.