Half Of Republicans Say Garland Should Get A Hearing

As you probably know by now, the Republicans in the Senate are still saying they will not give Merrick Garland (nominated to the Supreme Court by President Obama) either a hearing or an up-or-down vote. Their reason is that they say a president should not nominate a justice in the last year of his presidential term.

And most Republicans agree with that in general. About 66% agree, while only 21% say the sitting president should make a nomination in the last year of office. But an interesting thing happens when you narrow the question, and ask them whether Judge Garland should get a Senate hearing. Nearly half (49%) say the Senate should give him a fair hearing, while only 36% say he should be denied a hearing.

I think the Republican base is looking at their two most likely presidential nominees (Trump or Cruz), and many of them are starting to realize that they could easily lose the coming election. They are starting to think Garland may be the best they could hope for in a new Supreme Court justice -- far better for them than anyone either Clinton or Sanders would nominate.

It seems that half of Republicans are smarter than those elected to lead them.

The chart above was made from a YouGov Poll done between March 16th and 18th of a random national sample of 1,000 adults (245 Republicans), with a 4 point margin of error.