Americans want Congress to continue investigating allegations of perjury and sexual misconduct against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a new ABC News/Washington Post poll has found.
More than half of the registered voters polled - 53 percent - would support further inquiries into the new associate justice. Forty-three percent are opposed.
Support grows even higher among women, 58 percent of whom said they want Congress to probe Kavanaugh's past - 37 percent of women said they did not. Men were more evenly divided, with support vs. oppose at 47-49 percent.
Additionally, "women are 16 points more apt to back it strongly, 49 vs. 33 percent," ABC noted.
The gender gap is even more apparent among 18-49-year-olds and those aged 50-64.
"The gender gap peaks among 18- to 49-year-olds -– 70 percent of women in this age group support an investigation, vs. 53 percent of men. That nets to 61 percent support among 18- to 49-year-olds, dropping to 49 percent of Americans age 50-64 and 38 percent of seniors."
The gender gap is also apparent in approval of Kavanaugh being on the Court. Among women, 48 percent say they strongly disapprove of his confirmation, while 28 say they strongly approve. Men are more evenly split, according to the poll.
ABC breaks down the numbers in greater detail:
"Women who describe themselves as politically independent are 20 points more apt than independent men to disapprove of Kavanaugh’s confirmation, 61 vs. 41 percent; it’s similar among women age 18-49 compared with their male counterparts, 64 vs. 45 percent. Additionally, moderate women are 17 points more likely than moderate men to disapprove of the confirmation, 69 vs. 52 percent. There are also slight 8- and 9-point gaps between conservative women and men and liberal women and men."
Respondents also said, by a margin of 50-41 percent, that the Senate Judiciary Committee didn't do enough background work on Kavanaugh during his nomination proceedings.
Here, again, the gender gap is stark. Women oppose both Kavanaugh's confirmation 58-35 percent and the Committee's performance 56-38 percent. Men were evenly split.
The Kavanaugh effect on the midterms was measured as well.
"Registered voters say Kavanaugh’s confirmation makes them more apt to support Democratic rather than Republican candidates by a 6-point margin, 33-27 percent, with the rest saying it makes no difference."
There are those on Twitter who see these numbers as a direct rebuke of Republican politics.
There's just one small hiccup.
Unfortunately, Kavanaugh is already on the Court, so opposition to his confirmation is now moot, as some on Twitter pointed out.
New York Democratic Representative Jerry Nadler has promised more exhaustive probes of Kavanaugh if Democrats win control of the U.S. House of Representatives in November's midterm elections. Nadler stands to head the House Judiciary Committee if Democrats prevail.
This is why it is so important to vote. Elections have consequences.
The poll was conducted from October 8-11, 2018, of 1,144 registered voters. The survey was conducted in English and Spanish. Landlines accounted for 65 percent of people reached, while 35 percent were on cell phones. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
