Forty-eight percent of white evangelicals say that embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh should be confirmed even if the allegations of sexual assault against him are true.
Marist asked 1,000 respondents from September 22 to 24 whether they would support Kavanaugh if the allegations by Christine Blasey Ford, who says Kavanaugh assaulted her at a high school party decades ago, were found to be true
Yikes! … and yet in another sense, I’m not surprised that the people who tossed their values under the bus to enable a self-confessed sex offender to sit in the White House will now happily support Brett Kavanaugh, even if all the allegations against him are true.
OK, let’s go to the alpha source and take a look at the poll itself.
TheNPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll (pdf)
Quick facts
- 997 adults interviewed 22-24 Sept 2018
- Roughly an even split by gender
- Only 19% of them were white evangelical Christians (that is roughly about 190 people in total)
Do you approve or disapprove of the job Donald Trump is doing as president?
- Overall … 42% approved (26% strongly approve, 16% just approve)
- White Evangelicals – 72% approved (44% strongly approve, 28% just approve)
Overall, do you have a favorable or an unfavorable impression of Brett Kavanaugh?
- Overall – 31% are favourable
- White Evangelicals – 56% are favourable
Overall, do you have a favorable or an unfavorable impression of Christine Blasey Ford?
(Remember that this poll happened before she testified)
- Overall – 20% are favourable
- White Evangelicals – 9% are favourable
If the charge of sexual assault during a party in high school by Christine Blasey Ford against Brett Kavanaugh is true, do you think Brett Kavanaugh should be confirmed …
- Overall – 29% Yes, 59% No
- White Evangelicals – 48% Yes, 36% No.
There are other questions, for example relating to support or opposition. These are not currently relevant because it was all prior to the hearings and so the opinions were expressed prior to people having all that detail. What is however most damming is the support for Kavanaugh by almost half the White Evangelicals regardless of the truth of the accusations.
Caution:
- Numbers are small, the published error margin is +/-4.3%, so take it with a pinch of salt.
- A lot has happened since the poll was done, so opinions could have altered.
Is this credible?
As observed by the Vox article, the results mirror what we observe …
many prominent white evangelicals have spoken out in Kavanaugh’s defense, characterizing the allegations against him as part of a liberal plot to waylay his nomination. Jerry Falwell Jr., president of the evangelical Liberty University, sent 300 women Liberty students to Washington, DC, to support Kavanaugh during this week’s Senate confirmation hearings.
Likewise, prominent evangelical Franklin Graham has expressed support for Kavanaugh, minimizing the nature of the alleged assault and characterizing it as merely a clumsy come-on, telling the Christian Broadcasting Network, “She said no and he respected it and walked away.”
It truly is a judgement upon them to observe that even if the accusations are true, they simply don’t care and do not consider that it disqualifies him.
a Trump supporter on MSNBC told her daughters that men groping women is "no big deal" pic.twitter.com/QbYubOJpXl
— Caleb Ecarma (@calebecarma) September 26, 2018
One Further Thought
What should also now be even more damming is Kavanaugh’s rather blatant lying under oath (For example, the devils triangle is not a drinking game), and also his conspiracy mongering from the stand is not appropriate for a Supreme Court nominee. It was a job interview and he clearly demonstrated that he is not fit to do the job. Unfortunately the GOP just do not care. His appointment, if it happens, will result in a loss of confidence in the impartiality of the Supreme Court and in effect render it one step closer to not being fit for purpose.
Meanwhile … here is some parody
Saturday Night live did a wonderful job of mocking the whole circus act that was run by the GOP. This is #1 on YouTube trending after just a couple of days and has already had millions of views …
Beyond that, whoever did this next one, I applaud you. It is very funny …
Often the best response is not to raise our fists and shout at the wind, but instead to mock and laugh at the utter absurdity of it all. This perhaps highlights it for what it actually is – an utterly absurd farce that the GOP is orchestrating.