MESSAGE
| DATE | 2020-09-22 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] US Supreme Court and Elections
|
wsj.com
Supreme Court Vacancy Leaves Many Voters Unmoved
Joshua Jamerson and Catherine Lucey
8-10 minutes
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WASHINGTON—As the partisan clash over replacing the late Supreme Court
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
escalates, many voters around the country say the vacancy isn’t
influencing their choice for president or is just one of the issues they
are weighing.
President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden have taken
different approaches in public comments about the liberal justice’s
death Friday. Mr. Trump is seeking to motivate his base
by promising toquickly nominate a replacement
and cement a conservative majority on the court. Mr. Biden is countering
that the president and his allies are improperly rushing the process and
putting the health insurance of millions of Americans
at risk.
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
/Do you think the Supreme Court vacancy will drive undecided or hesitant
voters to cast ballots? Join the conversation below./
With 42 days to go before Election Day, Mr. Trump is trailing Mr. Biden
in national polls
and in some battleground states. Despite some seismic
disruptions—including Mr. Trump’s impeachment, a global pandemic and a
national reckoning around racial justice—polling has remained stable
throughout the year, with most of the country’s political views deeply
entrenched. According to a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll,
conducted before Justice Ginsburg’s death, only 11% of voters indicated
that their vote is still up for grabs.
Interviews with voters found early signs that the fight over the Supreme
Court vacancy fits that pattern, with supporters of Mr. Trump, Mr. Biden
or third-party options committed to their candidates and most of the few
undecided voters reluctant to choose sides.
Shelia Merriweather, 29 years old, said the vacancy hasn’t helped her
decide whom to vote for. Ms. Merriweather, who runs a beauty-supply
store in Milwaukee, said she backed Hillary Clinton in 2016 but doesn’t
know enough about Mr. Biden’s policies to back him over Mr. Trump this
time around. She said she was interested in a number of policy issues,
including education reform, and the Supreme Court vacancy didn’t change
her thinking.
“It really doesn’t,” she said. “It just depends on, in my research, who
do I feel is best.”
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death has made her open seat
a central issue in the November election. President Trump said he would
nominate a woman as Joe Biden appealed to Republicans to not confirm a
nominee. Photo: Megan Jelinger/Zuma Press
Mr. Trump has embraced the court vacancy as an opportunity to shift
focus away from his handling of the coronavirus pandemic
and racial-justice protests
.
At a rally in North Carolina Saturday night, he polled the audience on
whether to nominate a man or a woman and took in chants of “Fill That Seat.”
For his part, the former vice president is expected to continue to
emphasize how a shift in the balance of the court—which now has five
conservative-leaning judges and three liberal-leaning judges—could
impact health-care access, which aides said is an issue that motivates
Democratic voters. The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments on
the Obamacare law on Nov. 10, one week after the election, after an
appeals court found its mandate that Americans carry health insurance
unconstitutional.
Daniel Franco, a civil engineer in Denver, said he was undecided before
Justice Ginsburg’s death but is now leaning toward voting for Mr. Biden,
because he hopes a Democrat will appoint a liberal justice, balancing
out the already conservative-leaning high court.
With 42 days to go before Election Day, Democratic presidential
nominee Joe Biden is leading in national polls and in some
battleground states.
Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
“I think we should try to have a balance of power for deciding cases,”
said Mr. Franco, 27 years old, who says he is a registered Republican
but backed Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson in 2016. He
said the court vacancy was now more than likely the No. 1 issue for him
going into Election Day. “A lot of it weighs in on balancing the court,”
he said of his presidential vote.
Many others, like Charles Jones, a bartender in Daytona Beach, Fla.,
already have their minds made up and won’t be guided by the debate over
the seat.
Mr. Jones said he thinks the seat should be filled after Inauguration
Day out of respect for any new Democrats elected to the Senate, as well
as in case Mr. Trump is defeated. But he thinks it is a foregone
conclusion that Senate Republicans and Mr. Trump will fill the seat
before then, so he isn’t calculating the court into his vote for president.
“Nothing really changed,” said Mr. Jones, 28 years old. “I’m probably
going to go Biden just to get Trump out of office.”
Alex Matthews, 33, of Coldspring, Texas, said the court conversation was
one of a number of issues he would watch as he tries to make up his mind.
President Trump has embraced the court vacancy as an opportunity
to shift focus away from his handling of the coronavirus
pandemic and racial-justice protests.
Photo: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
“I don’t think there’s a good option either way, and I’m not a fan of
the best of the worst,” said the project manager who voted for Mr. Trump
in 2016. He said he would like to hear more from Mr. Biden on the kind
of judges he would put forward.
“If people are going to vote for him for the next four to eight years,
we need to know what his plan is,” he said.
In the battleground state of Pennsylvania, U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle
expressed skepticism that the race would now fundamentally change.
“It provides a temporary distraction which is helpful for him,” the
Philadelphia-area Democrat said of Mr. Trump. “We just hit the 200,000
mark of Covid deaths. I think that would have been a bigger deal were it
not for the Ginsburg death.”
Pennsylvania Republican Party chairman Lawrence Tabas said he expected
that the court seat was just one of many issues that would motivate GOP
voters, arguing that issues like the economy and public safety would
remain paramount.
“There’s so many factors we are working on,” he said.
Some voters said in interviews that the vacancy backs up their
previously held notions about the stakes in the election. Erica
Williams, a K-12 educator in Philadelphia, voted for Green Party
presidential nominee Jill Stein in 2016. She says the court vacancy
reinforces her choice to vote Democratic this time.
“I made up my mind who I would vote for a long time ago—even though I’m
reluctant to cast a ballot for that person,” said Ms. Williams, 36 years
old, referring to Mr. Biden. “Even if RBG was still alive, you’d still
have Republicans filling the courts with their federal judges. To make
sure that is balanced, I have to make a choice to vote for Joe Biden.”
More on the Supreme Court Vacancy
*Write to *Joshua Jamerson at joshua.jamerson-at-wsj.com
and Catherine Lucey at
catherine.lucey-at-wsj.com
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