Republicans Reeling As 30% Of GOP Voters Trust Obama/Clinton More Than Trump On SCOTUS Nominee

According to a new poll, nearly three out of every ten Republicans trust President Obama and Hillary Clinton more than Donald Trump to appoint a new Supreme Court Justice.

The numbers from PPP:

Only 38% of voters nationally trust Donald Trump to nominate a Supreme Court justice, compared to 53% who don’t trust him to do that. Only 57% of voters even within his own party trust Trump to make a selection, and more than 80% of Democrats as well as a majority of independents don’t trust him with that responsibility.

Americans, by double digit margins, trust both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton more with the duty of picking a Supreme Court justice than Trump. Obama beats Trump 53/37 on that question, and Clinton does by a similar 52/37 spread as well. What’s particularly noteworthy is that in addition to more than 80% of Democrats, 29% of Republicans would prefer either Obama or Clinton making that decision to their own party’s presumptive nominee for President.

Fifty percent of voters said that they would be less inclined to vote for a Senator, who opposed confirmation hearing for Merrick Garland. The PPP poll shows that a perfect storm is building against Republicans. Voters want President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee to get hearings. Voters don’t trust the man who Republicans will nominate to be the next president to choose a Supreme Court justice, and voters are prepared to punish Republicans if they obstruct President Obama’s nominee through the presidential election.

The fallout from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s decision to obstruct President Obama’s nominee has been compounded by having Donald Trump at the top of the ticket.

When 30% of Republicans don’t trust their nominee to pick a Supreme Court justice, things have reached a historic level of bad in the Republican Party. If Trump can’t be trusted by a sizable percentage of those in his own party to select a Supreme Court justice, he also can’t be trusted to be President Of The United States.

Voters across the political spectrum want an adult in charge, which is why they trust Obama and Clinton more than Trump.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association