Americans Don't Care Much for Racial Politics on the Supreme Court

For those few who are pushing for a specific gender/sexual orientation/race in the next Supreme Court nomination, their enthusiasm for "balancing" the court is not shared by the American people:

There is but one woman on the nine-member Supreme Court, in a nation where women outnumber men at polling places, one black justice, in a nation that shed legalized racial discrimination only decades ago, and there never has been a Hispanic on the high court, in a nation whose fastest growing minority population is Latino.

Yet, with President Barack Obama weighing his first appointment for the high court and promising to pick a nominee with "diversity of experience,'' Americans apparently are in no rush to even the score for women or minorities on the court.

"There is simply no large groundswell,'' reports Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of the Gallup Poll, in a survey released this morning by the independent polling institute.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans surveyed say it "doesn't matter" to them if the president appoints a woman - 64 percent - according to the results of a Gallup Poll conducted last week.

Slightly more of those surveyed - 68 percent - said it doesn't matter if Obama names a Hispanic justice. And even more - 74 percent - said it doesn't matter if the first African-American president appoints a black justice.

I wonder what the polling would say if you asked respondents if the president should just pick the best qualified person for the job?