Behind the Numbers
Copyright 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 12:41 PM

President-elect Barack Obama is expected to have the opportunity to appoint several justices to the Supreme Court, with much of the speculation centered on Justice John Paul Stevens, the oldest and longest-serving of the nine. While Stevens is giving few signals about when he intends to step down, voters who cast their ballots with the high court in mind made some of their views known on Election Day. The SCOTUS bloc is a slim group. Few, 7 percent, singled out the court as their top voting consideration, though more than half called appointments to the high court an important factor according to network exit polls. Overall, voters who gave the court some weight in deciding how to vote split 52 percent for Obama, 46 percent for McCain. Those who said it was their top issue broke more heavily for the Democrat, 57 percent to 41 percent. About half of those