U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is the most popular jurist on the nation’s high court among Republicans, a new poll showed.
In the Economist/YouGov survey released Tuesday, respondents who identify as Republicans rated the favorability of Thomas ahead of Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, both of whom were tapped by former President Donald Trump.
Thomas was nominated by President George H.W. Bush in the early 1990s.
The survey found that Thomas was rated favorably by 59% among Republicans, compared to 55% for Barrett and 53% for Kavanaugh.
Thomas is the longest-serving conservative and only African American justice on the high court, having been confirmed in 1991.
The three jurists were also the best-known justices in the survey — all of whom had bitterly contested confirmation hearings. Two thirds of all respondents had an opinion of them, with 64% having an opinion on Barrett, 66% on Kavanaugh and 67% on Thomas.
Here’s what Republican respondents graded other members of the conservative-dominated Supreme Court on favorability:
— 42% for Neil Gorsuch, who also was a Trump pick;
— 39% for Samuel Alito;
— 27% for John Roberts, who is the court’s Chief Justice;
—17% for Stephen Breyer;
—13% each for Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
Roberts is the sole case where the justice fared worse with those from the party of the president who nominated them than those in the opposition party, the survey found.
The survey noted the U.S. Supreme Court as a whole is better liked by Democrats, with 48% approving and 34% disapproving. Among Republicans, 39% approve and 41% disapprove, the survey found.
According to the survey, Sotomayor was the only other jurist as well-known as Barrett, Kavanaugh and Thomas, with 62% of all respondents having an opinion of her. For Gorsuch, that figure was 53%. For Roberts, 59% expressed a view on him.
The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 2.7% for the overall sample.
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