Support among voters for Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court is on the decline as more people believe Christine Blasey Ford’s claims of sexual assault than his denials. A Fox News poll released Sunday appears to confirm the trend as it shows that 50 percent of registered voters oppose Kavanaugh’s confirmation while 40 percent are in favor. That marks an increase in opposition from last month, when voters were pretty evenly split, with 45 percent approving the confirmation compared to 46 percent who were against.
As could be expected, support for Kavanaugh is split along party lines with 81 percent of Republicans supporting the confirmation and 82 percent of Democrats opposing it. Significantly though, support for Kavanaugh’s confirmation among independents has plunged 12 points since August.
This decline in support among independents comes as more people say they believe Ford. While 36 percent of voters say they believe Ford’s claims, only 30 percent believe Kavanaugh’s denials and 34 percent say they aren’t sure about who’s telling the truth.
The Fox News poll isn’t the first to show American voters are opposed to Kavanaugh’s confirmation. An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll from earlier this week found that opposition to Kavanaugh’s confirmation increased nine points since last month, with 38 percent saying they’re against it and 34 percent are in favor. This marks the first time since the NBC/WSJ poll began in 2005 that a Supreme Court nominee has more opposition than support among voter.
A USA Today/Ipsos Public Affairs poll also found an “unprecedented level of disapproval for a nominee to the nation’s high court” as 40 percent of Americans say the Senate shouldn’t confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, compared to 31 percent who think it should. This marks the “first time a plurality of Americans have opposed a Supreme Court nominee since polling on the issue began,” according to USA Today. Ultimately, “Kavanaugh is the least liked Supreme Court nominee since Robert Bork in 1987,” notes CNN.
