Majority of voters say Trump should not nominate a Supreme Court justice: poll

A majority of voters say President Trump should not nominate a Supreme Court justice this year, according to a snap poll released Saturday by YouGov.

The poll came less than a day after the U.S. Supreme Court announced liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died Friday evening of complications from pancreatic cancer. 

The poll found that 51 percent of voters believe Trump should not nominate another justice this year, while 42 percent said he should move forward with a nominee. A slight majority, 48 percent, believe the Senate should not confirm a nominee this year. Forty-five percent said the upper chamber should.  

Forty-nine percent of respondents said they believe Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden would “do a better job” picking a Supreme Court nominee, while 40 percent said Trump would. Eleven percent of respondents were undecided. 

Ginsburg’s death immediately sparked a partisan battle among lawmakers over who will fill the new vacancy on the conservative-majority court. 

Democratic lawmakers are urging Republicans to follow their own example set in 2016, when the Senate GOP blocked former President Obama’s pick, Merrick Garland.

Prominent Republicans including Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have all indicated they plan to move forward with a nominee this year.

The YouGov poll was conducted among 1,200 registered voters between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. Saturday and reported a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.