Poll: Early reaction to Sotomayor is positive

A plurality of Americans rate President Obama's choice for the Supreme Court as "excellent" or good"

Published May 28, 2009 1:50PM (EDT)

It's pretty clear at this point that Republicans will not have an easy time opposing the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. There are all sorts of factors making opposition a difficult task: President Obama's popularity, Sotomayor's race and the problems the GOP already has with Latinos, the Democrats' overwhelming majority in the Senate. And then there's the fact that Americans generally seem to be pretty happy with Obama's choice.

new poll out from Gallup shows a plurality of Americans have a generally favorable opinion of the Sotomayor nomination. In a survey taken Tuesday night, after the announcement was made, 19 percent of respondents rated the pick as "excellent," while 28 percent said it was "good." By contrast, 20 percent said it was "only fair" and just 13 percent rated it as "poor." Another 20 percent of those polled had no opinion.


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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