Sotomayor's Unfavorable Rating Higher Than Bush Nominee's

A Rasmussen poll shows that "Forty-nine percent (49%) of all voters have a favorable opinion of Sotomayor while 36% hold an unfavorable view." While Sotomayor's favorable rating is right about where Alito's was after Bush nominated him for the Supreme Court, Sotomayor's unfavorable rating is significantly higher than Alito's. Gallup reported on November 2, 2005:

More people feel positive rather than negative about Alito personally -- 44% to 19%, respectively -- with another third offering no rating. Again, Miers' rating was similar, but a majority, 54%, gave Roberts a favorable personal rating.

While negative opinion of Sotomayor is higher than it was for Bush's nominees, a Gallup poll shows that the percentage of voters who rate the selection of Sotomayor as "excellent" or "good" (47 percent) is slightly lower than it was for Roberts (51 percent) and slightly higher than it was for Alito (44 percent).

Given the fact that Obama has a much higher approval rating than Bush did, it's surprising that less than 50 percent of voters think that Obama made a good choice by picking Sotomayor.