Likely New Jersey voters are overwhelmingly paying attention to Judge Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings, and more than half want the Senate to reject him, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University Poll released today.

There's also a significant gender gap in attitudes toward Kavanaugh, who last week angrily denied allegations of sexual misconduct when he was in high school and at Yale University.

Just 22 percent of women want Kavanaugh confirmed, while 55 percent want him rejected. Men are split, 42 percent each, for confirmation or rejection.

Among likely voters, 38 percent want Kavanaugh confirmed, while 53 percent want him rejected. Among all adults statewide, that breakdown was 32 percent for confirmation and 49 percent for rejection.

The poll said 62 percent of likely voters were following confirmation hearings "very" closely, and 32 percent said they were following "somewhat" closely.

A judge on the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Kavanaugh was opposed almost immediately by New Jersey's two Democratic senators, Cory Booker and Bob Menendez. They cited their belief that Kavanaugh would tip the Supreme Court's balance against such issues as abortion rights and same-sex marriage.

Booker, a member of the Judiciary Committee, also warned that Kavanaugh would rule to protect President Donald Trump in court battles that could arise from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Kavanaugh's nomination was rocked by allegations from three women in recent weeks. One of them, Christine Blasey Ford, testified last week that she was afraid of being raped when, as a 15-year-old, she was pulled into a bedroom at a party and held down by Kavanaugh, then 17. Kavanaugh vehemently denied the allegation, and Republicans charged that Democrats held back the information until the end of the confirmation process.

The Senate had been set to vote on Kavanaugh as early as today, but on Friday that timeline was delayed so the FBI could investigate. That investigation is supposed to take a week or less, and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Monday that the final vote would be this week.

The FDU poll surveyed 805 adults, including 508 likely voters, last Tuesday through Sunday. The results have a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points for all adults and 4.3 percent for likely voters.

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