Poll: Americans divided over Supreme Court pick timing
American voters are evenly split on whether the Senate should vote on a Supreme Court nominee appointed this year by President Obama or hold off until a new president has taken office, according to a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll.
Among registered voters, 43 percent say the Senate should vote on a replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia this year, compared with 42 percent who say the Senate should wait until next year.
The numbers break sharply along party lines, with independents split almost equally. Among Democrats, 81 percent say the Senate should vote on a nominee this year, compared with 9 percent who don't. Those figures are flipped for Republicans: 81 percent of GOP voters want the Senate to postpone the vote until next year, compared with 11 percent who want them to vote this year.
Independents are as equally split as the overall electorate: of the demographic, 43 percent say there should be a vote this year and 42 percent prefer a vote next year.
Scalia's death last Saturday immediately set off a firestorm of political drama, with President Obama vowing to nominate a replacement this year and Republicans arguing that an election-year appointment would be inappropriate. The issue also quickly made its way to the campaign trail, too, with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz using the Supreme Court appointment in an ad to suggest Donald Trump isn't conservative enough.
The poll surveyed 800 registered voters from Feb. 14-16, and has a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points.