A survey by The Economist/YouGov found that support for the president’s commitment to choose a Black woman outpaced opposition to the move by more than two to one.
The poll comes as Biden is expected to name his choice by the end of February and as some Republicans have criticized the president’s decision, with Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) suggesting the nominee will be a “beneficiary” of affirmative action.
The poll, published late on Thursday, asked respondents if they supported or opposed nominating a Black woman to the nation’s highest court.
Thirty-three percent said they “strongly support” the decision and 20 percent said they “somewhat support” it - a total of 53 percent.
By contrast, just 15 percent strongly opposed the move and 10 percent were somewhat opposed, making a total of 25 percent.
A further 22 percent of respondents weren’t sure whether they were supportive or opposed.
The poll was conducted among a nationally representative sample of 1,500 U.S. adult citizens between January 29 and February 1 and had a margin of error of approximately +/-3 percent.
YouGov also found broad support for racial and gender diversity on the Supreme Court, with 41 percent of respondents saying racial diversity was very important and 25 percent saying it was somewhat important.
A further 21 percent said racial diversity was unimportant and 12 percent answered that it wasn’t very important.
It was a similar picture when it came to gender diversity on the Court, as 35 percent of respondents said it was very important and 27 percent judged it somewhat important. Another 25 percent said it was unimportant and 13 percent said it wasn’t very important.
No Black woman has ever served on the Supreme Court and most of the Court’s members have been white men. The late Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall was the first Black person to serve on the Court, between 1967 and 1991, while former Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was the first woman, serving from 1987 to 2006.
The Economist/YouGov poll also found overwhelming support for ideological diversity on the Supreme Court, with 34 percent saying it was very important and a further 34 percent saying it was somewhat important. Just 18 percent of respondents said ideological diversity was unimportant and 13 percent said it wasn’t very important.
The Supreme Court currently has a 6-3 conservative majority and Justice Breyer is the most senior member of the Court’s liberal wing. President Biden is expected to nominate someone who will maintain the current balance if she is confirmed.
Speculation has been rife about who Biden will pick, with Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Associate Justice Leondra Kruger of the Supreme Court of California and U.S. District Court Judge J. Michelle Childs considered strong contenders.
