As President Donald Trump prepares to reveal his replacement for late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, there is an ongoing push for her vacancy to remain until after the November presidential election, something that is now gaining support from the many American voters. A new Politico/Morning Consult poll released Tuesday found that half of registered voters surveyed said the winner of the presidential election should pick the next justice “since the election is fewer than 50 days away.”
The poll, first reported on by Politico, also found that 37% of registered voters believe that Trump should pick the next justice “since he is the current president,” with the remaining 12% having no opinion on the matter. The poll also revealed a sharp partisan split, with nearly 8 in 10 Democrats (79%) believing that the winner of the upcoming election should nominate the next justice. That number was mirrored by Republicans (71%) who said they believe Trump should select the justice. Among independents, however, there was a bit more of a divide, with 49% saying the election winner should appoint Ginsburg’s replacement while 31% said Trump should do it.
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The Tuesday-released poll marks just the latest since Ginsburg’s death that indicates the majority of American voters support waiting until after the election to name Ginsburg’s replacement. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 62% of respondents said the winner of the election should make the appointment. That poll, however, in a separate question, also found that 46% said Trump should make the appointment. Meanwhile, 51% of respondents in a Rasmussen Reports poll said the winner of the election should make the appointment.
The polls show a reversal from 2016, when the majority of respondents favored Senate hearings for President Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, to replace Justice Antonin Scalia. Similarly, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans at the time declined to schedule hearings until Trump took office, McConnell has now vowed that Trump’s nominee “will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.”
Trump is expected to reveal his nominee on either Friday or Saturday of this week, after services are held for Ginsburg, who died Friday at the age of 87. As of Monday, the president said he had a list of four or five potential picks, with Amy Coney Barrett believed to be the frontrunner. As the controversy swirls around his selection of a nominee, the president has stated his belief that a vote should be taken “before the election” and “should go very quickly.”
