AP poll finds support for Sotomayor confirmation

WASHINGTON — Americans have a more favorable first impression of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor than they did for any of President George W. Bush’s choices for the high court, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll.

The public also backs her confirmation in higher numbers.

The poll, released Tuesday, said that roughly a third of the country has a favorable view of Sotomayor, while 18 percent view her unfavorably. Half of those polled say she should be confirmed; 22 percent oppose her confirmation.

President Barack Obama nominated the 54-year-old appeals court judge last week. She would replace Justice David Souter, who will retire in a few weeks.

“Let’s give everyone a chance,” said Frank Keller, a 77-year-old retiree in Wauconda, Ill., who took part in the poll. “She’s proven herself to work hard and I’d say she’s pretty well-qualified.”

Countered Ruth Paslay, 59, of Brewster, Wash., “I just get the feeling that she’s going to let her liberal ideas sway her even though she said today that she’d go by the law.”

Paslay added, “I pray she’ll make good judgments because I have a feeling she’s in.”

Bush put forward three Supreme Court nominees in the course of four months in 2005. The Senate confirmed Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, but Harriet Miers withdrew from consideration under pressure from conservatives who generally supported Bush.

Of the three, Roberts had the highest favorable rating, 25 percent, and the most support for confirmation, 47 percent of those polled. Each of the three Republican nominees also had unfavorable ratings four or five percentage points lower than Sotomayor.

Nearly four in 10 people said they have not heard enough to form an opinion about Sotomayor, who has been a federal judge since 1992. That number is smaller than it was for Bush’s three nominees, suggesting a higher level of interest about the imminent court vacancy.

Indeed, poll participants who answered follow-up questions from the AP all were aware of the controversy over a much-quoted remark by Sotomayor in 2001. During a speech, she said: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

Paslay said she was bothered by the “statement she made about a Latino woman being able to make a better decision than a man.”

But Mae Nahmias, 83, of Fremont, Calif., said she thinks Sotomayor was saying that “a lot of women and especially minority women go through things that men never go through. She didn’t mean anything negative about white men.”

Keller said far too much is made of isolated comments and incidents from a nominee’s past.

“If we stubbed our toe on a little dog when we were 15, it would come out that we kicked the dog,” Keller said. “That’s the part that I don’t like.”

The poll found a partisan divide over the nominee, with Democrats overwhelmingly saying that they have a favorable opinion of Sotomayor and want her confirmed. Independents also view her more favorably than not.

But more than 40 percent of Republicans said she should not be confirmed, compared with 30 percent of Republicans who favor confirmation. A third of Republicans also said they have an unfavorable opinion of Sotomayor, while only 14 percent had a favorable view.

Questioned about affirmative action, 63 percent support it for women and fewer, 56 percent, favor affirmative action for racial or ethnic minorities. The poll did not define affirmative action.

Other polls have shown most Americans disagree with preferences for minorities even while supporting affirmative action.

The AP-GfK Poll was conducted May 28 to June 1 by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media. It involved landline and cell phone interviews with 1,000 adults nationwide, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.