“California voters strongly believe that civil rights and affirmative action are important issues and want to know judicial nominees’ positions on them,” concluded David Mermin, a pollster with Lake Research Partners.

Most importantly, voters strongly believe that government has a responsibility to take action to address racial and ethnic discrimination and that California needs to lead the country in formulating innovative solutions to racial disparities and discrimination.

When asked to judge the importance of issues the Supreme Court may rule on in coming years, civil rights and voting rights are overwhelmingly important to California voters (91% and 89% rate them “important” respectively). Ranking just below these are presidential power (88%), privacy and government surveillance (85%), and abortion (80%). Compared to these issues, affirmative action is further down the list (74%).

Voters believe it is important to know a judicial nominee’s position on issues such as affirmative action (54% say it is “very important”; 78% “important”).

Equal Justice Society Law and Policy Director Kimberly Thomas Rapp said, “The poll validates our understanding that people are dedicated to fair and independent judges and that it is appropriate to know the judicial temperament of upcoming nominees. We need a United States judiciary that allows for fairness and balance.”

“The key challenge identified by this research will be to reframe the policy actions needed to achieve equal opportunity, drawing on and enhancing the core values shared across racial groups, rather than allowing opponents to splinter and divide voters,” noted Mermin.