More than four-in-five voters who intend to support Democratic candidates say Supreme Court appointments are very important to their vote in this year’s elections, according to a Pew Research Center survey. | AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite Elections Poll: Dems more energized over Supreme Court fight

When Anthony Kennedy announced his resignation from the Supreme Court, Republicans viewed the opportunity to replace him as a galvanizing moment for the GOP’s voter base, despite President Donald Trump’s poor poll numbers.

But after Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination became mired in controversy over sexual assault allegations, it’s actually Democrats who are more motivated to vote in this year’s midterm elections by the fight over the high court’s next member.


According to a new Pew Research Center survey released Wednesday, more than four-in-five voters who say they intend to support Democratic candidates, 81 percent, say Supreme Court appointments are very important to their vote in this year’s elections. That’s greater than the 72 percent of GOP-supporting voters who classify the court as very important to their vote.

That represents a reversal from patterns in past elections and suggests the controversy surrounding Kavanaugh has upended what had been seen as a GOP asset. In 2016, of the voters who told exit pollsters that Supreme Court nominations were the most important factor in their vote, 56 percent voted for Trump, while 41 percent voted for Hillary Clinton.

Overall, the poll shows abundant enthusiasm about this year’s midterms — especially among Democrats.

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The Pew poll shows enthusiasm at its highest midterm levels in more than two decades. And that excitement portends a good year for Democrats: The party has a 10-point lead over the GOP on the generic ballot. Two-thirds of voters who say they will support Democratic candidates, 67 percent, also say they are more enthusiastic about voting than usual.

That’s nearly double the 36 percent of Democratic voters who said they were more enthusiastic about voting than usual back in 2014, when Republicans won control of the Senate and expanded their House majority to post-World War II-record levels.

Yet Republicans are more energized than they were in 2014, too: 59 percent of voters who intend to support GOP candidates say they are more enthusiastic than usual, up from 52 percent in the last midterm, and even slightly higher than the 57 percent measured right before the 2010 Republican wave election.

But the new Pew survey — in addition to multiple sources of other data — suggests the pendulum is poised to swing back, in large part as a response to Trump. Three-in-five voters, 60 percent, say their midterm choice is about Trump. But more say they are voting to oppose Trump (37 percent) than support him (23 percent).

The Pew Research Center poll was conducted September 18-24, surveying 1,439 registered voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.