Opposing Kavanaugh is simply tanking the Democrats

Last night Allahpundit covered some of the most recent polls which show a bit of a GOP resurgence in some key races heading into the midterms. But what’s causing this disruption in the blue wave? It didn’t take a crystal ball to guess that the Democrats’ treatment of Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh could be a factor. Now, however, we have some new polling which attaches solid numbers to that idea.

The Daily Caller as the rundown of a new survey (from Harvard of all places) showing that many Americans still may not be wild about President Trump, and they might not even like Brett Kavanaugh, but they’re simply disgusted by the obstruction on display in the confirmation process. And there is simply no way to spin this in a positive light for the Democrats. As one Dem strategist put it, this is nothing short of “a disaster.”

A majority of voters support the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court if the FBI finds no corroborating evidence to back up claims of sexual assault made against the nominee, according to a Monday poll.

Following Thursday’s testimonies from Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, 60 percent of voters support confirming the judge to the nation’s highest court, according to a Harvard University September 2018 Center for American Politics (CAPS) Harris Poll.

Three quarters of voters said California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein should have given the letter from Ford — in which she alleged the judge assaulted her — to the Senate Judiciary Committee when she first received it in July instead of holding it until the middle of Kavanaugh’s confirmation process.

The person taking the lion’s share of the blame in the public eye is Dianne Feinstein, which really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. If the information she had about Christine Blasey Ford was so critical, why did she sit on it until the confirmation hearings were over, springing it like some sort of gotcha trap at the eleventh hour? The list of aggrieved individuals suddenly coming forward with claims, none of which can be substantiated, doesn’t seem to be convincing to any but the most partisan liberal base voters.

Check out some of the other findings:

• A majority said the confirmation process “was politicized and mishandled.”
• 69% of voters called the process a “national disgrace.”
• After the hearing, 67% thought Ford was credible, but 50% also thought Kavanaugh was credible.
• 63% think Kavanaugh will be confirmed to the Supreme Court.

That phrase “national disgrace” should be a familiar one to you by now. And rather than being some throwaway talking point for the GOP, it seems to have resonated with the public. Underlying all of these numbers seems to be a signal that the public isn’t as concerned with right versus left or red versus blue, but rather a general sense of disgust with the partisan clown show which never seems to end in Washington.

This brings us back to the four scenarios that Allahpundit set forth last night and I’ll confess I can’t decide which of them is more likely. If the vote is held this weekend and Kavanaugh is confirmed, does that actually play to the Democrats’ favor? At that point, the issue would be taken off the table and people might simply forget about it. GOP enthusiasm could begin to slide again while the Democrats will still be just as energized to strike a blow against Trump.

But if Kavanaugh winds up being Borked, it’s a double-edged sword for Republicans. It will probably fire up the base to take revenge, but if the Democrats still somehow take control of the Senate (a prospect looking less and less likely by the day) we’re stuck with an eight-person Supreme Court for the next two and a half years. Is there a way around this? The only thing that jumps to mind is to have Cocaine Mitch delay the vote for weeks, giving everyone more time to look at the new FBI report. But that also gives every wannabe Michael Avenatti out there time to dredge up more supposed witnesses to the Yale social scene from 35 years ago. It’s a delicate situation at the moment and the midterms may yet hang in the balance.