Obama and the Supremes?

 

What does the public think about appointing Barack Obama to the Supreme Court?

By Dave Andrusko
   A couple of weeks ago we posted about Hillary Clinton’s response to an inquiry whether (given that the next president could easily have several nominations to the Supreme Court) she’d consider President Obama.
According to Tony Leys of the Des Moines Register: 

“Wow! What a great idea!” Clinton exclaimed as the crowd of 450 people roared approval and applauded.

“I’ll be sure to take that under advisement,” she said. “I mean, he’s brilliant. He can set forth an argument, and he was a law professor, so he’s got all the credentials. Now, we do have to get a Democratic Senate to get him confirmed.”

She laughingly added that she wasn’t sure if he would be interested. “He may have other things to do.”

   Leys wrote that in 2014  Obama was asked about such a possibility. He  told a reporter for the New Yorker that (as  reporter Jeffrey Toobin put it) while Obama “sounded tempted by the idea” of being the second President in history to sit on the Supreme Court, Obama responded, “But I think being a justice is a little bit too monastic for me.”.

Was Clinton floating a trial balloon or just cozying up to Democrats in Iowa who still faun over the President? Well, either way, Rasmussen Report, decided to poll on the issue.
In summary, nope, voters don’t want Obama appointed to the Supreme Court,  and (contrary to Mr. Obama’s own opinion expressed last July that he would win a third term) neither are they  keen on the idea of a third term. Here’s what we read :

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that only 21% of Likely U.S. Voters think the next president of the United States should name Obama to the U.S. Supreme Court. Fifty-nine percent (59%) oppose such a nomination. Twenty percent (20%) are undecided. 

Even among his fellow Democrats, just 40% think an Obama nomination to the Supreme Court is a good idea. Eighty-two percent (82%) of Republicans and 65% of voters not affiliated with either major party are opposed.

What about a third term?

   31% say they would vote for Obama if he legally could seek a third term, but twice as many (62%) say they would not support him.

While 60% of Democrats were thumbs up on a third term, if it were possible,

Source: NRLC News