Poll: Litmus test OK for court nominees
No consensus on a Bush appointee's effect on court
(CNN) -- A slim majority of people responding to a poll taken last month said it would be OK to consider a Supreme Court nominee's position on certain social "hot-button" issues, if the nominee were qualified and had no ethical problems.
But respondents reached no consensus when asked whether a nominee provided by President Bush would improve or worsen the court.
The results of the CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll were announced Tuesday. The poll was conducted of 1,007 adults January 14-16. Its margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Of the respondents, 51 percent said U.S. senators would be justified "in voting against that nominee if they disagree with the nominee's stance on current issues such as abortion, gun control or affirmative action."
Another 46 percent said a senator would be unjustified to vote for that reason.
Speculation about a vacancy on the nation's highest court intensified last fall when Chief Justice William Rehnquist announced he was undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer.
Four justices --Rehnquist, Sandra Day O'Connor, John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg -- are older than 70.
In the same poll, 33 percent said a Bush choice would improve the court, 25 percent said it would make it worse and 40 percent believed it would make no difference.
