Rasmussen: 62 Percent of Voters Believe All of Trump’s Nominees Deserve a Senate Vote

A poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports found most voters believe that President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court and Cabinet-level picks deserve a yes-or-no vote from the Senate.

Of the 1,000 likely voters polled, 62 percent agreed “every person the president nominates to serve as a judge or in a government position receive an up or down vote on the floor of the Senate,” including 68 percent of Republicans, 57 percent of Democrats, and 63 percent of political independents.

The poll comes as Democrats obstruct the nomination process by refusing to show up to vote and claim the Supreme Court seat vacated by the late Antonin Scalia was “stolen” from Obama. Republicans had refused to confirm Obama’s third Supreme Court justice nominee, Merrick Garland, during the last year of his lame-duck term as the presidential election went on, enraging Democrats.

Now, 48 percent of Democrats polled believe the delays holding up the confirmation of Trump’s Cabinet and Supreme Court pick is good for the country. Another 26 percent believe it’s bad for the U.S., and 55 percent of Republicans agree.

Voters are more evenly divided on whether or not lawmakers should oppose presidential nominees on ideological grounds. When asked if it is “fair for a U.S. senator to oppose that nominee because of disagreements over ideology or judicial philosophy,” 44 percent said no, 42 percent said yes, and 14 percent were not sure. Last year, only 27 percent of Democrats believed it was not appropriate to oppose Obama’s picks for ideological reasons, but under President Trump, 51 percent now say it is. Similarly, 64 percent of Republicans thought it was fine for lawmakers to oppose Obama’s picks for those reasons, but now only 37 percent think it’s acceptable.

Rasmussen conducted its poll from Jan. 31 to Feb. 1 with a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.