Two polls show just how badly the Kavanaugh circus has backfired on Democrats

The Democratic effort to crush Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation under a mountain of uncorroborated allegations has not only failed to stop the Senate from voting on him, it appears to have completely backfired in the polls.

First, let’s take a look at some fresh Gallup polling from Wednesday, released before Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell kicked off the procedural sequence to bring up the nominee for a final vote. It shows that 46 percent of Americans say confirm Kavanaugh; 45 percent say not to; 9 percent say they don't know/have no opinion.

Kavanaugh’s favorables outpace his unfavorables, though by a narrow margin. The upshot of this is that everything that's happened over the past few weeks ultimately couldn't keep Kavanaugh under water.

And while the anti-Kavanaugh crusade may have failed at preventing the final vote, it did succeed in one thing: Firing up the Republican base.

Another NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist poll released the same day shows that the enthusiasm edge that Democrats have held over Republicans for months has now closed to a statistical tie, which, if it holds, makes the prospect of a “blue wave” at the midterms far less likely.

As it turns out, trying to destroy a man’s life and career despite a lack of evidence did what a successful effort on tax cuts and failed efforts on Obamacare, immigration, and defunding Planned Parenthood couldn’t. And if Republicans hold on to their congressional majorities when the dust settles in November, it’ll be in no small part due to a massive Democratic backfire.

Editor's note: This article has been corrected to reflect that the day of the poll's release was Wednesday, 10-3-18, not Thursday, 10-4-18.

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