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| Poll: Majority but 'Hesitant' Support for Alito |
| Saturday, November 05, 2005 |
Early support for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito is considerably weaker among such key groups as evangelicals, Republicans and the wealthy than it was for John Roberts, an AP-Ipsos poll found.
The survey put public sentiment for Alito closer to the level of early backing for the failed nomination of Harriet Miers.
About four in 10 respondents - 38 percent - say they back the confirmation of Alito, a federal appeals court judge from Philadelphia. Twenty-two percent say they strongly support him.
For Roberts, now the chief justice, 47 percent said in July that they supported his confirmation, 36 percent strongly.
Almost two-thirds of evangelicals supported Roberts' confirmation with half strongly backing him. For Alito, about half of evangelicals support his confirmation, one-third strongly. There were similar drops among Republicans and among people who make more than $75,000 a year.
Alito's selection followed the implosion of the Miers nomination, which could leave some people slow to embrace President Bush's latest nominee, said presidential scholar Charles Jones, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
"That has led to a hesitancy among some Republicans, conservatives and evangelicals," Jones said. "The Miers experience really raised doubts about the president and his judgment, it's more of a wait-and-see."
Despite Bush's call for the Senate to confirm Alito by the end of December, the Senate put off hearings until Jan. 9, giving Judiciary Committee investigators and the public more time to delve into his background and record as a judge.
Bush, in Argentina for a 34-nation Summit of the Americas, told reporters he was "disappointed in the date but happy they do have a firm date for his confirmation hearing." |
posted by Jay Are @ 11:34:00 AM   |
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