More on Alito

POLLS SHOW PUBLIC NEEDS MORE INFORMATION ON ALITO WANT TO KNOW HIS LEGAL VIEWS ABOUT KEY PRIVACY RIGHTS

• A CBS News poll conducted January 5-8 reported that 70 percent of Americans have not yet formed an opinion on whether Samuel Alito should be confirmed by the Senate, reaffirming the importance of the confirmation hearings to give Americans information about what kind of justice Samuel Alito would be if he were confirmed. CBS reported that 77 percent think it important for the Senate to ascertain his positions on issues such as abortion and affirmative action, with 46 calling it "very important." Asked whether the Senate should consider a nominee's views on issues that might come before the court, as well as legal experience, Americans by a 61-32 margin want those views taken into consideration. (Americans believe by 69-25 that a justice’s personal views should not enter into their decisions.)

(You can find the poll here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/09/opinion/polls/main1192317.shtml)

• A Harris poll conducted in December found that Americans were nearly evenly divided between support, opposition, and uncertainty (34-31-34). But, according to the poll, a 69 to 31 percent majority would oppose his confirmation if they thought he would vote to make abortion illegal.
  
• An NBC News/WSJ poll conducted in December asked whether people would like to see the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade or not; people opposed the overturning of Roe v. Wade by 66 to 30 percent. An ABC News/Washington Post poll in December said that 57 percent of adults think abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
  
• A January 6 - 8 CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found the plurality of Americans supporting Alito's confirmation (49 to 30) evaporated, and turned into a 22 point margin of opposition when people were asked if the Senate should confirm him if he would overturn Roe v Wade (34 to 56).
  
• CBS also asked questions about presidential power and wiretapping. On the general question of expanding executive authority in wartime, 57 percent say it is a bad idea to give a President power to make changes to the rights guaranteed in the Constitution, only 36 percent calling it a good idea. (This is a big change from December 2001, when the numbers were reversed, 29-64. BUT when asked whether they approve of President Bush's authorized monitoring of U.S. phone calls without warrants, people are evenly divided, 49-48. The poll reports that Americans say it is unacceptable to monitor ordinary Americans (28 yes, 68 no) but ok to monitor those whom the government deems suspicious (69 yes, 26 no), with Americans have some, but not a lot, of confidence the government can correctly tell whose calls should be monitored (10 percent great deal of confidence, 45 percent fair amount, 43 percent not much). Americans by 53 to 42 view the Patriot Act as a necessary tool to catch terrorists rather than a threat to civil liberties. Asked whether they are concerned about losing civil liberties because of the Bush administration's anti-terror measures, 29 percent said they were very concerned, 33 percent somewhat concerned, and 38 percent not at all concerned. But asked whether they are more concerned that the government will not make anti-terror laws strong enough or are more concerned that the government will restrict civil liberties, Americans are more concerned about restricting liberties, by 46 to 38).