Reidblog [The Reid Report blog]

Fifty-three percent of Americans want the Senate to confirm Alito to the Supreme Court, 27 percent oppose his confirmation, and 20 percent are undecided. Support for Alito has not changed substantially from when his nomination was first announced in late October; in terms of public sentiment, he's in about the same position as John Roberts was at the opening of his hearings to become chief justice.

Interest in the Alito hearings is also in line with early interest in the Roberts' nomination: Sixty percent plan to pay close attention to the Senate proceedings, with about one in five saying they'll be following them "very closely." Among the reasons people are likely to tune in is to hear what, if anything, Alito may say about abortion-rights cases, particularly the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.

Asked how they think Alito will handle abortion cases if he's confirmed, 38 percent say they think he'll leave Roe as is, a quarter believes he'll vote for greater restrictions, and 18 percent say he'll likely vote to overturn Roe entirely. The remaining 18 percent say they don't know how he'll vote.

And many seem to project their own attitudes onto Alito: Fifty-eight percent say the way they expect him to vote on Roe is the same way they'd want him to vote.

Expectations for Alito's handling of abortion cases link directly to support for his confirmation: About two-thirds of those who think he'll vote to either limit Roe or leave it intact support him, whereas a majority of those who think he'll vote to overturn the decision oppose his nomination. Previous polling indicates majority support for Roe, but also substantial support for the court's making it harder for women to get abortions — 42 percent in the last month's ABC/Post poll.