New Polls Show Sotomayor Starting Off Confirmation Process In Good Shape
Two new national polls show that Sonia Sotomayor is starting out the confirmation process with solid ratings among the American public -- a sign that the initial wave of right-wing attacks doesn't seem to be working.
In the new Gallup poll, 47% of Americans rated President Obama's choice of Sotomayor as either excellent or good, compared to only 33% who characterize it was fair or poor, and 20% with no opinion.
In the Rasmussen poll, Sotomayor has a 49% favorable rating among likely voters, against 36% unfavorable. In addition, 45% of likely voters said the Senate should confirm her, to 29% who say they should not, and 26% who don't know. Even more telling, 59% say it is very likely she will be confirmed, 28% say it is somewhat likely -- and only 4% say it is not very likely and 1% not likely at all.
Josh
Matt
Eric
Small surprise that Obama is still far more popular than Newt Gingrich.
May 28, 2009 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
These don't sound like particularly great numbers to me.
May 28, 2009 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
....you mean they aren't artificially inflated, like Bush's used to be all the time?
Book cookers will be book cookers....
May 29, 2009 2:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
One thing I'd like to see is the full context of Sotomayor's supposedly 'racist' quote on being a Latina judge. She actually said the complete opposite of what those citing her --right, left and center, see the NYT -- have made it sound like she was saying. Keith Olbermann last evening is the only place I've heard the whole quote, which was to the effect that being self-aware of her potential biases as a Latina made it possible for her to overcome them and render a fairer judgment than those who are not so self-aware (of the degree to which they may have cultural bias, including white men). Please make this straight!
May 28, 2009 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Amen.
May 28, 2009 2:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jennifer Rubin of Comment magazine and Pajamas media had like a 45 minute interview on C-SPAN's Washington Journal this morning and repeated or referred to the out of context comment a couple of times - though at least once she said she was paraphrasing.
I've been getting fed-up with both the increasing use by the Right to use blatant straw-man arguments, and particular in the case of the Sotomayor nomination, of the MSM to compound these straw-man arguments to say "questions being raised about" .... "Sotomayor will have have address this issue during the confirmation process".
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Dear MSM: when you have the facts to ANSWER the 'questions' raised by the right - for example the full text of Sotomayor's speech - then give the answer to the question when it is raised. It is the media's JOB to report the facts, not to merely repeat baseless allegations from one side of the political aisle.
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May 29, 2009 9:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
For comparison purposes, I'd like to see the initial numbers for Roberts, Miers, and Alito.
May 28, 2009 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why do they keep listing people who have no opinion, on an opinion poll?
May 28, 2009 12:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
My only concern--and it's a huge one--is where she stands on Roe vs. Wade. Common sense would lead me to believe that she and Obama somehow telegraphed to each other on this issue, but in this instance I'd rather be operating on something more than faith.
May 28, 2009 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Amen.
May 28, 2009 2:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
It amazes me that Ginsburg got 96 votes. Now we have Sonya who is no more liberal and probably less so but she will probably get less than 70. I'm not sure what that means. Clearly Clinton was better at winning over the GOP than Obama has been.
Of course this could be a clever tactic to continue to make the GOP look like a fringe party controlled by it's most right wing elements. After all if the GOP started agreeing with Obama instead of just fighting him tooth and nail on everything people might start taking them seriously again and we can't have that.
One more thing... If Obama ends up serving for 8 years it's likely that he will replace 4 SC judges (Souter plus Stephens, Ginsburg and Scalia). I'll bet at least three of his picks will be women.
May 28, 2009 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
"It amazes me that Ginsburg got 96 votes. Now we have Sonya who is no more liberal and probably less so but she will probably get less than 70. I'm not sure what that means. Clearly Clinton was better at winning over the GOP than Obama has been"
Actually, it was simply eons ago. At that time, the Republicans in the Senate were far more moderate than they are now, and judicial nominations -- while consequential -- weren't the life or death struggles they seem to be today. Have they voted on Obama's nominee for the 7th Circuit yet? Don't think so.
Also, and all Senate roads lead here sooner or later -- Harry Reid wasn't the Majority Leader then.
May 28, 2009 4:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
From Pollster.com....apples to apples..gallup to gallup
May 28, 2009 7:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Something tells me we need to look at a few other possibilities.
May 29, 2009 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
The latest sign that the nation has slid further into the muck of banality is evidenced by polls -- not for what they purport to show, but because they are taken at all on this subject and at this time.
Think about it: before a single hearing is held, and without the benefit (for most) of reading a single written opinion authored by the nominee, we have national polling organizations trolling for opinions from the population, the vast majority of whom are either uninformed or completely ignorant on the issues presented. Indeed, the only people whose opinions are not only worth noting, but for which they ought to get applause, are the 20-26 percent who have no opinion when asked how they feel about the nomination. The rest break down along predictable lines of politics, ideology, or both.
To conclude other than we are a nation of reactionaries ignores reality.
May 31, 2009 4:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well said. It seems that people these days not only form opinions before gathering facts, they're encouraged to do so.
I for one was briefly off-put by the sound bites, before they were put in context. I now find nothing remotely offensive or scary about Sotomayor. I think other people who do fifteen minutes of research will feel the same way. Instead, people mostly go with a gut reaction of "how do you feel about a Hispanic, Catholic female who Obama has appointed and the right has decried as 'activist'?" and then find whatever tidbits back up their point of view. And the media reinforces this behavior with the whole horse race mentality. Just pick your pony and cheer like crazy.
May 31, 2009 9:56 PM | Reply | Permalink