Poll: Majority favor confirming Sotomayer

WASHINGTON, June 28 (UPI) -- Sixty-two percent of those interviewed for a national poll said the U.S. Senate should confirm Sonia Sotomayer to the Supreme Court, sources said.

Overall, about 55 percent of those polled said Sotomayer was "about right" ideologically on a liberal-to-conservative scale, The Washington Post-ABC News poll said.

Sotomayer, 55, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York, is President Barack Obama's choice to replace retiring Justice David Souter.

In the Post-ABC News poll, there was no gender gap in support, with men and women about equally likely to be on Sotomayer's side.

When it came to partisan issues, however, just 36 percent of Republicans polled said they wanted Sotomayer confirmed, compared with almost eight in 10 Democrats and about two-thirds of independents saying they want her confirmed, the Post reported.

Sotomayer's Senate confirmation hearings are to begin in two weeks. She would be the first Hispanic justice and the third female justice.

The poll was conducted June 18 to June 21 by telephone with a random national sample of 1,001 adults and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.