As Supreme Court battle roils DC, suburban voters shrug

Sampling finds little groundswell in the vital political middle

OMAHA, Nebraska – It stands to shift the direction of the nation’s highest court for decades, but President Donald Trump’s move to fill a Supreme Court vacancy has barely cracked the consciousness of some voters in the nation’s top political battlegrounds.

Even among this year’s most prized voting bloc – educated suburban women – there’s no evidence that a groundswell of opposition to a conservative transformation of the judicial branch, which could lead to the erosion or reversal of Roe v. Wade, will significantly alter the trajectory of the midterms, particularly in the House.

Many of those on the left who were already energized to punish Trump’s party this fall remain enthusiastic. On the right, voters loyal to Trump often needed no encouragement either, though some Republicans who have soured on the president were heartened by the nomination of federal court judge Brett Kavanaugh.

And those in the middle? Many said they weren’t following the issue closely enough to have a strong opinion despite the prospect of dramatic changes to America’s customs and culture.

“I’m not going to know much about this, I’m afraid,” said 31-year-old Christian school principal Sara Breetzke, a self-described moderate Republican who lives in Omaha. “I really should know more, but I don’t have anything unique to say.”

Breetzke was among two dozen voters interviewed by The Associated Press in the days immediately after

Trump tapped Kavanaugh to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was a swing vote on several key issues, including abortion rights. Those interviewed live and vote in districts that are expected to decide the House majority this fall – places like suburban Philadelphia; metropolitan Omaha; Orange County, California; northern Virginia; and Denver’s western suburbs, where Republicans hold seats but Democrat Hillary Clinton performed well in 2016.

Democrats must pick up at least 23 new seats now held by Republicans to claim the House majority. They are starting with a focus on 25 districts where Clinton led Trump in the presidential vote, but the field now extends to several dozen more districts where Trump won by small margins.

The Supreme Court battle will be fought in the Senate, where Republicans are eager to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination before the midterms. The vote is especially crucial for Democrats seeking re-election in states Trump won in 2016 and could affect turnout in those races. But for now, it’s unclear whether that enthusiasm will trickle down to contests for the House, where Democrats are better positioned to regain control.

In suburban Denver, 33-year-old real estate agent Marlene Corona said she was trying to tune out the Supreme Court debate, “so I don’t get too frustrated.”

The Democrat said she was already motivated to vote in November – against vulnerable Republican Rep. Mike Coffman – from the moment Trump was elected: “I don’t think anything is going to change that.”

These voters echo the beliefs of many of Washington’s top political operatives, who are skeptical that the high-profile Supreme Court nomination debate will significantly change the fight for congressional control this fall. The skepticism reflects the increasingly short attention span of most voters given the weekly turbulence in the Trump era and the likely timing of the Senate’s pre-election nomination battle.