Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) claims Republicans are putting Loretta Lynch, President Obama’s nominee to be attorney general, “in the back of the bus,” a reference to civil rights crusader Rosa Parks. In a different context, columnist George Will advises readers to never run for a bus, since there will be another one along soon enough.
When it comes to Lynch, voters seem more willing to apply Will’s bus metaphor than Durbin’s.
A new Rasmussen survey indicates voters don’t especially want Lynch sworn in to replace Eric Holder as AG. “Just 33 percent of Likely U.S. Voters believe the Senate should confirm the federal prosecutor from Brooklyn, N.Y., to be the nation’s highest law enforcement officer,” the poll of 1,000 likely voters finds.
That may or may not be because they oppose Lynch. Only about a quarter say they do. But some 40 percent remain undecided, Rasmussen finds. Those numbers are similar to what the polling firm found in January.
Also unchanged: The fact that voters want the next AG to run the Justice Department less politically than Holder has. “By a 47 percent to 28 margin, voters believe he is more interested in politics than in administering justice in a fair way,” Rasmussen reports.
Lynch’s potential confirmation vote was delayed last week when Democrats filibustered a human trafficking bill, thus bringing all Senate business to a halt. It has been tabled for this week, as lawmakers discuss the federal budget, and the Senate plans to be on recess next week.
That may give voters, and senators, time to make up their minds.