More People Liked Sotomayor than Elena Kagan, Poll Finds

AP

Four in 10 Americans say President Obama made a good or excellent choice in nominating Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, a Gallup poll finds.

But Kagan's positive rating in the poll, conducted on May 10, when the president announced his nomination, is seven points lower than the favorability rating Justice Sonia Sotomayor received last year just after Mr. Obama nominated her to the court. Sotomayor and Kagan received similar negative ratings.

Gallup has conducted immediate reaction polls to gauge public opinion of Supreme Court nominees over the past five years -- Kagan's favorability rating is the lowest to date, while Justice John Roberts received the highest positive rating in 2005 at 51 percent. Americans were more likely to say they had no opinion of Kagan, at 24 percent, than they were for the other four nominees.

Predictably, Democrats are much more likely to call Kagan a good choice than Republicans, at 63 percent versus 18 percent. While men and women were equally likely to give a positive rating to Kagan's nomination, men were nearly twice as likely (at 19 percent) than women (10 percent) to call it a poor choice.

More on Elena Kagan's nomination:

Elena Kagan White House "Interview" Riles Reporters
Elena Kagan Takes Center Stage in 2010 Campaign Battles
Kagan to Meet With Key Senators Wednesday
Washington Unplugged: Kagan Riles Both Sides of the Aisle
Jeff Sessions: Kagan Won't Shift Court on Abortion
Chip Reid: Why Kagan? In A Word: "Leadership"
Photos: Elena Kagan
CBSNews.com Special Report: Elena Kagan

[thebob-bob]

Slow day, huh? I can't recall headlines about whether people 'liked' Scalia better than Souter or Kennedy?? What's next? Questions about their impact on Women's Fashion??

Who's funding the Tea Party? What new "rights" are the activist right wing Judges going to bestow on Corporations? Come on! Do some work, will ya!

[LoadedDice]

Just another mindless, senseless, vapid poll to keep the talking heads talking, teabaggers spewing and the carnival barkers (disguised as newscasters) barking (what else?) to keep the fans glued to their sets. E.g., what does "the public" know--in less than a week!--about Elena that they haven't heard from a media that, by and large, is more interested in calling prize fights (that they gin up) than in getting anything like "truth." If CBS, ABC, et al--and especially Faux News--ever decide to ask an important question, such as "What has dumbed us down?", they need only look in the fun house mirror that they have conjured up.

[ejlorge]

What does it matter whether everyone hates or loves a Justice Supreme? But then to COMPARE two?!

What a ludicrous poll.

[wfw3536]

Most people do not respect someone who does not support our brave solders. She ban them from the campus until she had to back down because of a Supreme Court decision. How can we respect anyone like this when they disrespect our armed forces. This nomination was a big mistake by Obama.

[animaltoo]

No one asked me about Kagan or Sotomayor. I think Sotomayor is a racist. I don't know about Kagan.

[harleythecat]

tatemanor - you really should learn to read and comprehend if you are going to be calling people unlearned and ignorant. This was not a poll that COMPARED the two, it was a poll on the individual proposed justice. They then compared the results. They also listed Roberts in there as well, but you may have not made it past the headline.

The issue is, that unlike Sotomayor, Kagan has no judicial record to evaluate and in her official capacity at Harvard has shown herself to be someone who inserts her own opinion and feelings above the law.

[tatemanor]

This poll is a farce; having a poll on Kagan vs Sotomayor. America is a country of unlearned, ignorant and prejudiced people. Start with a simpler question for your poll, such as How many justices are on the Supreme Court or name five or even better, where is the Supreme Court located? Then work your way up to the tougher questions. Before taking the poll, have them spell Kagan or Sotomayour first.