The majority of Americans, including many Republicans, said the appointment of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s successor to the U.S. Supreme Court should be left to the winner of the November presidential election, Reuters reported, citing the Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Sunday.
A survey conducted Sept. 19-20 after Ginsburg’s death found that 62% of American adults said the vacancy should be filled by the winner of the Nov. 3 matchup between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, while 23% disagreed and the rest said they were unsure, Reuters reported.
Eight out of 10 Democrats — and five in 10 Republicans — agreed that the appointment should be made after the election, according to the survey.
Trump needs the support of the Senate, which currently has a 53-47 Republican majority to confirm a nominee. So far two Republican senators - Maine’s Susan Collins and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski - have said publicly since Ginsburg’s death Friday that they think the winner of the election should make the nomination.
Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has vowed a vote with weeks to go in Trump’s term.
Democrats are still seething over his refusal to act on Democratic President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, in 2016 after conservative Justice Antonin Scalia died 10 months before that election. McConnell said then that the Senate should not act on a court nominee during an election year, a stance he has since reversed.
