Story highlights About half say Gorsuch's ideological position is about right

That's roughly the same share that said so about Samuel Alito in 2005 and Sonia Sotomayor in 2009

Washington (CNN) Americans' first impressions of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch tilt positive, and a plurality say the Senate ought to vote to confirm President Donald Trump's selection to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, according to a new CNN/ORC poll.

Overall, 49% say the Senate should vote to confirm Gorsuch, who is a federal judge. That's roughly the same share that said so about Samuel Alito in 2005 and Sonia Sotomayor in 2009 shortly after their nominations were announced. Support for Gorsuch is just a hair below that of former President Barack Obama's selection for the same seat, Merrick Garland (52% supported a vote in favor), who did not receive a hearing or confirmation vote in the Senate.

About half say Gorsuch's ideological position is about right (49%), less than said so about Garland (56%). About a third, 34%, say they think Gorsuch will be too conservative, higher than the share who said so of other successful GOP nominees Alito (29%), John Roberts (24%) or Clarence Thomas (20%).

Overall, though, 39% say they have a positive first impression of Gorsuch, significantly higher than the 24% who say they have a negative impression of him. More, 45%, said they had a positive first impression of Garland after his pick was announced last year and 54% felt positively about Roberts after his announcement.

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