Republicans are nervous of letting voters know Amy Coney Barrett’s views: Washington Post

President Donald Trump is taking a far different approach than he did in the 2016 campaign after nominating Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

"Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett heads into her confirmation hearings next week with a detailed record that has led many liberals and conservatives to believe she would support restricting, if not outright overturning, the landmark decision that guarantees a woman’s right to an abortion," Seung Min Kim wrote in a new Washington Postanalysis.

"But as her nomination fight unfurls in an increasingly heated election season, top Republicans — from President Trump to individual senators — appear to be playing down the impact Barrett’s confirmation would have on the fate of abortion rights in the United States," the newspaper noted. "In a pair of general-election debates, both Trump and Vice President Pence danced around the question of the law and abortion access — a stark contrast to then-candidate Trump’s explicit promise four years ago to nominate only justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision legalizing the procedure. And in the Senate, an upstart conservative Republican’s push to confirm justices who view Roe as wrongly decided is causing visible discomfort among his GOP colleagues who believe Supreme Court nominees should face no such litmus test in their confirmation process."

Barrett's nomination could impact the 2020 elections.

"Recent polling suggests that Americans oppose overturning the nearly 50-year-old decision by a wide margin, although by how much depends on the poll," the newspaper reported. "A Fox News poll released this week found that 61 percent of registered voters said the Supreme Court should let the ruling stand, while 28 percent said it should be overturned, roughly 2-to-1 opposition. A September national survey by the Marquette University Law School found that 56 percent of Americans opposed the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade while 32 percent supported it."

Read the full report.