Where do Americans stand on court packing? Here's what polling shows

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Democrats unveil bill expanding Supreme Court

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., on Democrats introducing a bill to pack the Supreme Court.

A push by progressive congressional Democrats to expand the number of Supreme Court justices – a long shot to pass in Congress – doesn’t appear to be supported by most Americans.

While there’s no new public opinion polling on what’s called "court packing" by opponents and "court expansion" by proponents, there were a couple of national surveys conducted last autumn, during the heat of the presidential general election campaign.

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That’s when the issue was last in the headlines, following the death of liberal leaning Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the successful controversial push by then-President Trump and the then-Senate GOP majority to quickly confirm conservative leaning federal Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the vacant high court seat. Barrett’s confirmation – over the objections of Democrats – further entrenched the Supreme Court’s conservative majority.

Fifty-eight percent of likely voters questioned in a New York Times/Siena College national poll conducted Oct. 15-18, amid the general election and the fierce partisan battle over Barrett’s nomination, said Democrats should not expand the Supreme Court beyond its current nine justices, with 31% supportive of increasing the size of the court, and 11% undecided.

There was an extremely wide partisan divide in the poll, with Democrats backing court expansion by a 57%-28% margin, Republicans overwhelmingly opposed, 89%-6%, and independents also against, 65%-25%.

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According to an ABC News/Washington Post national poll conducted Sept. 21-24, in the days immediately after Ginsburg’s death, 54% of Americans opposed court packing, with 32% supportive of expanding the number of high court justices and 12% unsure.

The partisan gap wasn’t as wide in the ABC News/Washington Post survey as it was in the New York Times/Siena poll. Roughly 6 in 10 Republicans and independents opposed increasing the size of the Supreme Court, with Democrats backing the move by a 45%-39% plurality.

A Fox News Poll - conducted Oct. 3-6 - asked the straightforward question favored or opposed "increasing the number of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court."

Forty-one percent opposed the idea and 39% favored the move.