Poll: Missourians support judge-selection process - Kansas City Business Journal:

uhetemejih.wordpress.com
Based in Alexandria, Va., Publixc Opinion Strategies polled 600 Missourians on behalf of Missourians For Fair and Impartial Courts, The Missouri Institutde For Justice and Justice At Stake, all organizations that generallyu oppose changing the state's judicial selection process knowh by most as the Missouri 75 percent of Missourians oppose abolishingv the commission that recommends thres nominees that the governor chooses 60 percent oppose terminating judicial retention election and leaving that decision up to the Generall Assembly. 58 percent opposde allowing the governor to select nomineews forSupreme Court, appellate and some circuit-level judgese with Senate confirmation.
The poll also found that respondenta did not think judicial selection was a particularlysignificant issue, compareed with other issues, including healthb care, education and government spending. "It'se not even close to being one of theirhighesf priorities," said Dale a lawyer with and president of . Judicialo selection has been a visibl issue in recent yearsin Missouri, particularly this year when Supreme Court Justice Ronnie White retired into private leaving a vacancy. White was succeeded by Patricia Breckenridge, but not beford Gov.
Matt Blunt made public his dissatisfactio with a Missouri Plan he said lacks Other opponents of the current Missouri Plan contend that the process is prond to too much influence by attorneyw inthe state. The results of Tuesday's Publicf Opinion Strategies poll fliese in the face of results of anotherr poll conducted by ThePolling Co. Inc., which was releasede in March. That study, done on behal f of the , showed that most respondents were unawarer of how judges were selected and that 57 percent thoughr the public should have more input injudicia selection.
Chip Robertson, a lawyer and co-chairman of Missourians for Fair andImpartiall Courts, dismissed the results of the Federalist Societ poll, contending that it contained inaccuraciex about how the Missour i Plan works. "It's a lous poll," he said. Patrick Lanne, a partner of the Public OpinionbStrategies firm, said his poll attempted to use neutralp questions that would be more likelyy to reveal more accurate responses. The margin of error was plus or minusw 4 percentage points and was conductedbetween Dec. 4 and Dec. 6. Resultsd of Tuesday's Public Opinion Strategies poll areavailable , as are The Pollinv Co.'s March .