(04/27/10) -

Americans Split on Ideology of Next Supreme Court Justice

Two-in-five disagree with appointing Hillary Rodham Clinton to replace the departing John Paul Stevens, including 73% of Republicans.

Two-in-five disagree with appointing Hillary Rodham Clinton to replace the departing John Paul Stevens, including 73% of Republicans.

Americans hold differing views on the ideology of Barack Obama’s prospective Supreme Court nominee, but a plurality disagree with the American President selecting Hillary Rodham Clinton for the position, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.

In the online survey of a representative sample of 1,002 American adults, 30 per cent of respondents say they would replace departing Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens with a strong or moderate liberal, 32 per cent would prefer to have a strong or moderate conservative, and 15 per cent would rather appoint a person with no specific ideology.

Democrats (51%) prefer a liberal judge, while Republicans (55%) choose a conservative.

More than a third of Independents (35%) would pick a conservative judge, 23 per cent select a liberal, and 22 per cent opt for a person with no specific ideology.

Three lawyers who currently serve in Obama’s cabinet have been mentioned—on and off—as possible choices for the Supreme Court vacancy. One-in-five Americans (24%) would agree with Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano replacing Stevens, but 39 per cent disagree. The public is divided in its assessment of current Attorney General Eric Holder (27% would agree with his appointment, 32% disagree).

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is also a polarizing choice, with 38 per cent of respondents agreeing with her appointment, and 43 per cent voicing disagreement.

The level of disagreement with seeing Rodham Clinton in the Supreme Court reaches 51 per cent among Independents, and 73 per cent among Republicans. Conversely, almost two-thirds of Democrats (64%) would welcome her appointment.

Full Report, Detailed Tables and Methodology (PDF)

CONTACT:

Mario Canseco, Vice President, Public Affairs
+877 730 3570
mario.canseco@angus-reid.com

Methodology: From April 14 and April 15, 2010, Angus Reid Public Opinion conducted an online survey among 1,002 randomly selected American adults who are Springboard USA panelists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 3.1%. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region Census data to ensure samples representative of the entire adult population of the United States. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.