American Values - Gary L. Bauer, President

Press Release Article

Survey Shows Strength of a Conservative Supreme Court Nominee; Gary Bauer: 'Roberts Should Confidently Defend His Conservative Philosophy'

07/29/2005

WASHINGTON, July 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A recent national survey commissioned by American Values and the American Family Association (AFA) and released on Friday finds that voters favor a "more conservative" -- over a "more liberal" -- U.S. Supreme Court by 50.3 percent to 30.5 percent. Majorities of survey respondents also indicated that they disapprove of a number of the high court's most liberal decisions.

"This survey demonstrates that President Bush's judicial nominees need not fear appearing before the U.S. Senate and stating their opposition to the liberal judicial agenda. During his upcoming confirmation hearings, John Roberts should confidently defend his conservative philosophy," said former presidential candidate Gary Bauer, now president of American Values.

The national survey of public opinion was conducted July 18 and 19 among 800 likely general election voters throughout the United States. All interviews were conducted by professional interviewers by telephone. Interview selection was conducted randomly from among lists of registered voters. The sample was constructed to statistically correlate with actual voter distributions across the country. The accuracy of this nationwide survey with 800 likely voters is within a margin of error of plus or minus 3.46 percent at a 95 percent confidence interval.

Other key findings of the survey include the following:

-- When asked who they like better, "a justice who strictly applies the intent of the law without regard to his or her own policy views" or "who corrects policies that he or she believes to be wrong, even if that requires overruling the intent of elected representatives," respondents favored the justice who strictly applies the intent of the law by 59.6 percent to 31.4 percent.

-- A significant majority of respondents -- 60.9 percent -- agree with the statement: "The U.S. Senate should give both Republican and Democratic presidents wide discretion in selecting nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court."

-- Majorities of respondents disapprove of a number of major judicial rulings on key cultural and other issues, including court decisions on the constitutionality of burning the American flag (55.5 disapprove); local use of eminent domain for private development (88.8 percent disapprove); establishing a right for same-sex couples to marry (60.1 percent disapprove); ruling "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional (80.9 percent disapprove); prohibiting public displays of the Ten Commandments under many circumstances (68.9 percent disapprove); and protecting access to partial-birth abortion as a right (64.9 percent disapprove).

"While some senators are applying liberal litmus tests to court nominees, American voters themselves oppose key pillars of the court's liberal agenda. By all accounts, John Roberts is a conservative, and he should consider that conservatism an asset, not a liability, as he proceeds through the confirmation process," AFA Founder and Chairman Donald E. Wildmon concluded.