Brett Kavanaugh’s unpopularity has surged since he and Christine Blasey Ford gave testimony on Thursday, a Quinnipiac poll released Monday showed. About 48 percent of voters do not want Kavanaugh to be confirmed, compared with 42 percent who do. The new results, drawn from a survey conducted Thursday through Sunday, contrast with an earlier poll showing 42–41 percent opposition to his confirmation.
The biggest shift didn’t come from Republicans changing their minds about supporting Kavanaugh, but instead from independents, who went from 45–39 support earlier in September to 49–39 opposition.
The gender gaps in support for Kavanaugh mirrored the large and growing gender sorting of the two major parties. Women were opposed 55 percent to 37 percent, while men supported Kavanaugh 49 percent to 40 percent.
While the overwhelming majority of the Senate has made up its mind on whether to vote for Kavanaugh’s confirmation, every day that passes until the final vote is a new day for new damaging information to come out, for the existing claims against Kavanugh to be corroborated, or for negative polling data to pile up—any of which could influence the final decision of Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Jeff Flake, or Joe Manchin, the senators whose votes are considered in play.
Another major trend—weak approval for both political parties, the president, and Congress—was also reflected in the poll: Majorities of respondents disapproved of how both Republicans and Democrats handled the allegations, while 49 to 42 percent disapproved of how Trump has dealt with the situation.
