Americans split on Kavanaugh nomination as hearing begins: poll

Americans are split over Brett Kavanaugh’s potential confirmation to the Supreme Court, with just four in ten voters supporting his nomination in a new poll.

A Gallup poll released Tuesday found that 40 percent of Americans polled said the Republican-controlled Senate should vote to confirm Kavanaugh, while 36 percent of those surveyed say his nomination should be rejected.

{mosads}The opinions are divided among party lines, according to the poll, and are largely the same from a Gallup poll taken shortly after his nomination in July.

Kavanaugh’s support has risen by 3 percent among Democrats since then, from 14 percent to 17 percent in favor of his confirmation in the new poll, while the nominee’s support among Republicans has fallen from 76 percent to 72 percent.

Independents are split evenly in the new poll, with 37 percent in favor of his nomination and 37 percent opposed. Support among members of this category has dropped by just 1 percentage point since the poll taken in July.

While more Americans say they support Kavanaugh’s nomination than oppose it, the poll notes that the 4-point difference is one of the lowest recorded in Gallup history among Supreme Court nominees.

Gallup’s poll was taken between Aug. 20-26 and contacted a random sample of 1,509 adults living in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.

Kavanaugh is set to be introduced Tuesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing by top Republicans including Ohio Sen. Rob Portman (R), former White House counsel for the Nixon administration John Dean and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.