Brett Kavanaugh and wife Ashley listen to his introductions at his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, September 4, 2018. (Chris Wattie/Reuters)

If you’ve read or heard anything about the polling on whether Judge Kavanaugh should be confirmed, you probably know two things: First, his support is weaker than usual, and running behind opposition; second, there’s a gender gap in public opinion about him.

Reuters-Ipsos shows that men support his confirmation, 40-35 percent; women oppose it, 37-26 percent. So, using one definition of the gender gap, there’s a gap of 14 points (since 40 percent of men but only 26 percent of women support confirmation).


But Reuters-Ipsos shows other breaks in public opinion that deserve mention. Frequency of church attendance is one. People who attend services once or more a month favor confirmation 42-29; people who attend less often, or not at all, oppose 40-29. Call it a “religiosity gap” of 13 points.

Marital status is also related to support. Those who are married or widowed support confirmation 42-33 percent. Those who are divorced, never-married, or cohabiting oppose confirmation 39-22. The marriage gap is 20 points.

You can also use the Reuters-Ipsos site to check how these factors interact. Married and widowed women support confirmation, 36-31. Other women oppose him, 42-15 percent. Among women, then, there’s a marriage gap of 21 points.

Marital status is usually more predictive of political attitudes and voting behavior than sex is. The Kavanaugh nomination is another case in point.