--- title: Scalia Replacement: Americans Divided Over Senate Vote description: Along party lines, Republicans favor voting later and Democrats want a vote during Obama's presidency, according to a new poll. canonical: https://time.com/4228055/scalia-replacement-vote-senate-american-poll/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-17T22:01:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:10:02.228Z article:section: Politics og:title: Americans Divided Over Senate Vote on Scalia Replacement og:description: Republicans favor voting later, while Democrats want a vote during Obama's presidency og:url: https://time.com/4228055/scalia-replacement-vote-senate-american-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7536e09a080bea50/69887d970b72e342f26e822f/antonin-scalia-dead-supreme-court-justice-07.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Scalia and Breyer Testify on Role of Judges on Capitol Hill og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Americans Divided Over Senate Vote on Scalia Replacement twitter:description: Republicans favor voting later, while Democrats want a vote during Obama's presidency twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7536e09a080bea50/69887d970b72e342f26e822f/antonin-scalia-dead-supreme-court-justice-07.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Americans Are Divided Over When Senate Should Vote on Scalia’s Replacement by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Feb 17, 2016 10:01 PM UTC  This Oct. 5, 2011 photo shows Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Capitol Hill in Washington. This Oct. 5, 2011 photo shows Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Capitol Hill in Washington.Jim Lo Scalzo—EPA by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Feb 17, 2016 10:01 PM UTC Americans are split down the middle over whether the Senate should vote this year on President Obama’s [eventual Supreme Court nominee](http://time.com/4226680/obama-supreme-court-nominee/) or wait until he leaves office, according to a new survey. The NBC News/_Wall Street Journal_ national survey found that 43% of people said the Senate should vote this year, while 42% would rather leave the matter to the next President. The [death of Justice Antonin Scalia](http://time.com/4224440/antonin-scalia-heart-attack/) on Saturday has sparked a political battle over nominating a successor. The divide was pronounced along party lines, as some Republicans have said [they will fight any attempt by Obama to appoint a replacement](http://time.com/4220762/antonin-scalia-dead-republican-party-senate-congress/) for the conservative judge. The survey found that 81% Republicans want to block an Obama nominee, while the exact opposite is true with Democrats, as 81% of them want the Senate to vote this year. The split extended to independents, with 43% in favor of voting this year and 42% saying next year. The poll was conducted Feb. 14 to 16 with a sample of 800 registered voters and an overall margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4228055/scalia-replacement-vote-senate-american-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4228055/scalia-replacement-vote-senate-american-poll/"},"headline":"Americans Are Divided Over When Senate Should Vote on Scalia’s Replacement","datePublished":"2016-02-17T22:01:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:10:02.228Z","description":"Republicans favor voting later, while Democrats want a vote during Obama's presidency","url":"https://time.com/4228055/scalia-replacement-vote-senate-american-poll/","keywords":["Supreme Court","Congress","Antonin Scalia topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7536e09a080bea50/69887d970b72e342f26e822f/antonin-scalia-dead-supreme-court-justice-07.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7536e09a080bea50/69887d970b72e342f26e822f/antonin-scalia-dead-supreme-court-justice-07.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Scalia and Breyer Testify on Role of Judges on Capitol Hill","caption":"This Oct. 5, 2011 photo shows Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Capitol Hill in Washington.","creditText":"Jim Lo Scalzo—EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/supreme-court/","name":"Supreme Court"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4228055/scalia-replacement-vote-senate-american-poll/","name":"Americans Are Divided Over When Senate Should Vote on Scalia’s Replacement"}}]}] ```