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Poll: Majority of voters say election winner should fill Supreme Court vacancy

27 September 2020
 Dan Ackermann

A majority of voters believe the winner of the next election should fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a new poll from the New York Times and Siena College finds.

Why it matters: President Trump and Senate Republicans have vowed to swiftly confirm his nominee Amy Coney Barrett, in part hoping for a political boost as the conservative base is extremely motivated by issues concerning the court. The poll indicates that moving fast may not help them with voters they also need to win over: women, independents, and college-educated white voters.

Driving the news: Trump said in an interview with "Fox & Friends" on Sunday that he believes the Senate will "easily" confirm Barrett for the election, and insisted that Democrats would do the same if they were in the GOP's position.

  • Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham said Saturday he expects confirmation hearings to start Oct. 12 and for his committee to approve her by Oct. 26.

Details: 56% of likely voters said they wanted the winner of the November election to pick the next Supreme Court justice, compared with just 41% who thought Trump should nominate someone before the election. Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett on Saturday.

  • The gender gap is wide: 62% of women say the opening should be filled by the next president.
  • The poll also asked about the right to an abortion, as Barrett, should she be confirmed, is seen as the likely vote to tip the court to overturn Roe v. Wade. 60% of respondents said abortion should remain legal in all or most cases.
  • Only 33% of the country believes abortion should be illegal in all cases. "The poll suggests that Mr. Trump would reap little political benefit from a clash over abortion rights: 56% said they would be less likely to vote for Mr. Trump if his justice would help overturn Roe v. Wade, while just 24% said they would be more inclined to vote for him," the Times writes.

The big picture: Biden is leading Trump nationally in voter preference, 49% to 41%, according to the NYT/Siena poll. A second poll out Sunday from the Washington Post and ABC News found Biden is leading Trump 54% to 44% nationally.

Methodology: The NYT/Siena poll was taken the week before Trump nominated Coney Barrett, and is based on interviews with 950 voters with a margin of error of 3.5%.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.