Here’s what Texans say should happen with the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh

Many Texas voters think it’s time for the U.S. Senate to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, a poll released Thursday shows.

Fifty-four percent of likely Texas voters — which includes 60 percent of men and 48 percent of women — say senators should move forward with the confirmation, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday morning.

“Texans say confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

Republicans agree, with 92 percent in support. But 77 percent of Democrats and 50 percent of independents disagree, the poll shows.

And while 67 percent of white voters support Kavanaugh’s confirmation, 87 percent of black voters and 47 percent of Hispanic voters disagree, the poll shows.

“His margin of support is 15 points overall, with 67 percent support from white voters,” Brown said. “But Judge Kavanaugh gets only 40 percent support from Hispanic voters and almost no support from black voters.”

President Donald Trump nominated Kavanaugh to succeed retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Kavanaugh, a 53-year-old appellate judge, lives in Maryland and serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

A Yale Law School graduate, he served as a clerk to Kennedy decades ago and worked in the White House under President George W. Bush.

He’s known by many for having helped with the Starr report during Bill Clinton’s presidency by investigating the death of Clinton’s deputy counsel, Vincent Foster. He also helped make the case for impeaching Clinton.

Many Republicans support Kavanaugh, hoping to move the court further to the right for decades to come. Bush nominated Kavanaugh to the D.C. appeals court in 2003, but confirmation took three years.

Controversy has surrounded the appeals court judge recently, since a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her in the 1980s.

There’s a hearing Monday for California psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford, who made the accusations against Kavanaugh, to tell her story. She said she has gotten death threats since talking about Kavanaugh and wants the FBI to first look into the alleged attack.

Top Republicans have said they hope to gain Senate approval for Kavanaugh this month.

This Quinnipiac survey was conducted Sept. 11-17, reaching 807 likely voters on landlines and cell phones. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

This story was originally published September 20, 2018 at 5:49 AM.