Nearly six-in-10 — 57 percent — said Obama should be able to make the pick, which he did on March 16, sending the nomination of D.C. Circuit chief judge Merrick Garland to the Senate. | AP Photo Poll: Majority says Obama, not next president, should pick Supreme Court justice

President Barack Obama and not his successor elected in November should be the one who gets to nominate the next Supreme Court justice, according to the results of a national CNN/ORC poll released Friday.

Nearly six-in-10 — 57 percent — said Obama should be able to make the pick, which he did on March 16, sending the nomination of D.C. Circuit chief judge Merrick Garland to the Senate. Another 40 percent said the next president elected in November and taking office in January should be the person to tap the potential justice to fill the vacancy.


In line with other recent national polling on the issue, 64 percent to 31 percent said Senate Republicans should hold hearings on Garland's nomination, while only 37 percent said opposition to Garland's nomination would be justified on the mere basis that he was appointed by the current president and not his successor, compared to 58 percent who said it would not be. A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday found that 62 percent to 33 percent of registered voters said the Senate should consider Garland's nomination, and a CBS News/New York Times poll suggested that 53 percent of Americans would like the Senate to vote on his nomination.

In CNN's poll, slightly more than half — 52 percent — said they would like the Senate to vote in favor of Garland's nomination if there is a vote, while 33 percent would not favor it and 15 percent had no opinion.

The CNN/ORC telephone poll was conducted March 17-20, surveying 1,001 adults nationwide with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.