Swing Voters and the Supreme Court Vacancy

The Daily

This episode contains strong language and descriptions of sexual violence.

The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the ensuing battle to fill her seat is set to dominate American politics in the lead up to the election. A poll conducted for The New York Times before Justice Ginsburg’s death found voters in the battleground states of Arizona, Maine and North Carolina placed greater trust in Joseph R. Biden Jr. than in President Trump to fill the next Supreme Court vacancy.

Now that it’s longer a hypothetical scenario, what impact will the vacant seat have on the thinking of swing voters?

We take a look at the polling and ask undecided voters whether the death of Justice Ginsburg and the president’s decision to nominate another justice have affected their voting intention.

Guest: Nate Cohn, a domestic correspondent for The Upshot at The New York Times.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Background reading:

• In surveys before Justice Ginsburg’s death, Joe Biden led by a slightly wider margin on choosing the next justice than he did over all against President Trump.