Judge Brett Kavanaugh, correct, shakes easily with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, after their July x coming together at the U.S. Capitol. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The Senate Judiciary Committee is gear up to begin confirmation hearings on Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. If confirmed, Kavanaugh would replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired in July after three decades on the court.

In a Pew Research Middle survey just afterwards Kavanaugh's nomination, Americans were divided: 41% said he should be confirmed, 36% said he should not and 23% offered no opinion. At that place was far more agreement over the importance of the option itself: 83% of U.S. adults said the choice of the next Supreme Courtroom justice is important to them personally, including 63% who said it is very important.

Alee of the Senate's deliberations over Kavanaugh, here's a wait at where the public stands on some of the major legal, political and social issues that could come before the justices in the years ahead, based on surveys conducted past Pew Research Center.

Abortion

Little public support for overturning Roe v. Wade as of 2016The loftier court's 1973 conclusion in Roe 5. Wade – which established a woman's constitutional right to an abortion– has loomed large over recent nominations to the court, and Kavanaugh's is no exception.

In the Center'southward July survey, 39% of Americans said they thought Kavanaugh would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade if he is confirmed. Smaller shares said he would not overturn the ruling (29%) or said it wouldn't matter or gave no opinion (32%). On a split up question, 61% said Supreme Court nominees should be required to answer senators' questions on problems like abortion during confirmation hearings.

There is fiddling public support for a consummate reversal of Roe 5. Wade. In a survey from December 2016 – the last time the Center asked about it – around three-in-ten U.Due south. adults (28%) said they would like to see the Supreme Court completely overturn Roe v. Wade, just around seven-in-10 (69%) said they would not.

On a more general question about abortion that the Center asked in June 2017, around six-in-ten U.S. adults (57%) said abortion should be legal in all or most cases while 40% said it should exist illegal in all or most cases. Public back up for abortion rights has remained relatively steady in contempo decades.

Americans' views well-nigh abortion differ markedly by their political and religious affiliation and educational background. 3-quarters of Democrats, for example, believe abortion should exist legal in all or most cases, merely around two-thirds of Republicans (65%) take the contrary view. Vi-in-ten independents say abortion should be legal in all or almost cases.

Death sentence

The Supreme Court ofttimes has the last word on whether individual executions in the United States can continue or not, and the justices have ruled on several broad legal questions related to death penalty since they effectively reinstated the death sentence in 1976.

Over the past two decades, public support for death penalty has declined substantially in the U.S., equally have death sentences and executions. Merely in the Center'due south almost recent survey on the death sentence – conducted this by April and May – support was upwards slightly: A narrow bulk of Americans (54%) said they favored the capital punishment for people convicted of murder, up from 49% in 2016. Partisans were sharply divided: Around iii-quarters of Republicans (77%) supported the death penalty for those bedevilled of murder, while a majority of Democrats (59%) opposed it. Independents were more than inclined to back up the death sentence than oppose information technology (52% versus twoscore%).

Elections

Recent Supreme Court decisions on subjects including redistricting, voting rights and campaign finance have shaped the way American elections are carried out. A major Pew Research Center report earlier this year explored how Americans see diverse aspects of their electoral system.

The report found broad public agreement over the importance of certain bug related to voting. For example, two-thirds of Americans (67%) said it is very of import for U.S. elections that no ineligible voters are permitted to vote. Around 7-in-x (72%) said it is very important that congressional districts are adequately drawn, and more than eight-in-x (83%) said it is very of import that no eligible voters are denied the vote.

But Americans are skeptical near whether these goals are being accomplished in practice, the survey found. Around three-in-x U.Due south. adults (29%) said either of the following two statements – "no eligible voters are prevented from voting" and "no ineligible voters are permitted to vote" – depict the country'due south elections very well. And only 12% said the statement "the way congressional voting districts are determined is fair and reasonable" describes U.S. elections very well.

The aforementioned report found that Americans overwhelmingly support limits on entrada contributions and believe new laws could reduce the function of money in politics. Around three-quarters of U.S. adults (77%) said in that location should be limits on the amount of money that individuals and groups tin can spend on political campaigns, while twenty% said individuals and groups should be able to spend as much as they want. And around two-thirds of Americans (65%) said new laws could be written to effectively reduce the role of money in politics, while 31% said such laws would not be effective.

Gun rights

In a pair of groundbreaking cases in 2008 and 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Subpoena to the U.S. Constitution guarantees an individual right to bear artillery and that state and local governments cannot violate that right. The two rulings accept underpinned recent debates over gun policy proposals in Congress and in state legislatures.

The U.S. public is narrowly divided over whether it'southward more important to control gun ownership or protect the right of Americans to own guns. In a 2017 survey, 51% said it was more important to control gun ownership, while 47% said protecting the right to own guns is more important. There were wide partisan differences on this question, with Republicans and Republican-leaning independents more three times equally likely as Democrats and Democratic leaners to say it'due south more important to protect the right to own guns. (Explore long-term partisan and demographic trends on this question using this interactive.)

Some gun policy proposals draw bipartisan supportSome gun policy ideas receive broad support from Democrats and Republicans alike, according to surveys conducted in 2017. For example, nearly nine-in-10 Democrats and Autonomous-leaning independents (89%) – and the same share of Republicans and GOP leaners – said they strongly or somewhat favor preventing mentally ill people from purchasing firearms. And at least 8-in-x adults in both groups said they favor preventing people on no-fly or sentinel lists from buying guns (85% among Democrats, 82% amidst Republicans).

Simply many other unremarkably proposed ideas drew precipitous partisan differences. Eight-in-ten Democrats favored a ban on set on-style weapons, compared with 54% of Republicans. A like share of Democrats (79%) supported a ban on high-capacity magazines, compared with 47% of Republicans. And while clear majorities of Republicans supported proposals to allow curtained carry in more places and to allow teachers and other officials to carry guns in K-12 schools (72% and 69%, respectively), those proposals were backed past but 26% of Democrats.

Labor unions

One of the biggest cases of the Supreme Courtroom's almost contempo term involved public employee labor unions. In a 5-4 decision, the justices ruled that public-sector workers who are represented by unions – but are not members of them – cannot be required to pay fees that cover the costs of the marriage's contract negotiations. The decision overturned a 1977 high court ruling and was seen as a major setback for unions.

Union membership in the U.S. has declined substantially in recent decades: The share of wage and salaried workers who are members of unions declined from twenty.1% in 1983 to x.7% in 2017, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

When it comes to public stance, Americans by and large have a favorable view of unions and believe that the long-term refuse in their membership has been more of a bad thing than a good thing.

A 55% bulk of U.Due south. adults said earlier this yr that they view labor unions favorably, compared with a third who viewed them unfavorably. These views have fluctuated over the past two decades, but are now more positive than they were during the Great Recession. In the same survey, effectually half of Americans (51%) said the reduction in union representation over the past 20 years has been mostly bad for working people, while around a third (35%) said information technology has been mostly practiced.

Same-sex spousal relationship

Public support for same-sex marriage reached new milestone in 2017The justices effectively legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in a major 2015 ruling. Just even before the decision, public opinion had turned in favor of gay wedlock. In the Centre's nigh recent survey on the question – conducted in June 2017 – 62% of Americans said they favored assuasive gays and lesbians to ally legally, nearly twice the share who opposed it (32%). As recently as 2010, a larger share of Americans had opposed than favored allowing gay and lesbian people to marry legally (48% vs. 42%).