An exclusive KING 5 News poll suggests more than half of likely Washington voters think a replacement for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg shouldn’t be considered until after the presidential inauguration.
The poll found 55% of respondents wanted to wait until January compared to 37% of respondents who thought the replacement should be considered before the inauguration. Another 8% weren’t sure.
Those responses mostly fell along party lines with 85% of Democrats wanting to wait and 80% of Republicans wanting to move forward now.
The results come as Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett began her confirmation hearings Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Barrett laid out her conservative approach to the law, vowing to interpret the Constitution and laws “as they are written.”
The poll found 46% of respondents think Barrett sees the world differently or exactly the opposite as they do, and 32% thought Barrett thought similarly or exactly the same as them.
If Barrett were confirmed, the court's balance would shift right, from 5-4 in favor of conservatives to 6-3. There’s been speculation that if Barrett is seated on the Supreme Court, a conservative majority could overturn Roe v. Wade, which protected access to abortion.
Of the poll respondents who are familiar with the court case, 71% said they would like it to remain the law of the land, and 18% said they would like it overturned.
The poll, which was conducted by SurveyUSA, surveyed 850 adults in Washington state from Oct. 8-12. Of those adults, 591 were likely November voters, and 499 were familiar with Roe v. Wade. Poll respondents were representative of statewide demographics with 36% identifying as a Democrat, 24% as Republican and 29% as Independent. Half were from the metro Seattle area, one-third were from western Washington and 17% were from eastern Washington.