The Supreme Court vacancy caused by Justice Scalia’s death has left Sen. Toomey in a bit of a bind.

That’s the conclusion of the latest Public Policy Polling survey which found the Senator with an underwater approval rating.

Just 29% approve of the job the Senator is doing while 40% disapprove. 31% are unsure.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s approval rating is only 13% among PA residents with 56% disapproving (even a majority of Republicans give their leader a bad rating).

Therefore, expect to see McConnell mentioned in plenty of Democratic ads this year as the party tries to use him as Republicans have used Nancy Pelosi for years to sully Democrats.

Supreme Court

Toomey’s poor numbers may partly be the result of his stance on the Supreme Court vacancy.

57% of respondents feel the seat should be filled this year as opposed to the next year. Additionally, by a 76/20 margin Pennsylvanians want the Senate to wait to see who the President nominates before deciding on confirmation.

A majority, 52%, said if Sen. Toomey refused to confirm a replacement it would make them less likely to vote for him in November. Just 25% said it made them more likely.

Finally, by a 51% to 40% margin, voters would blame a deadlocked Supreme Court on McConnell, Toomey and Senate Republicans rather than President Obama.

One important caveat, however, is that this poll was commissioned by Americans United for Change, a progressive organization. There is a great deal of disagreement in the political community about whether a commissioned poll is a tainted one. Some believe the firm wants to find results to please the people who hired them, while others believe such an act would be foolish as the organization wouldn’t continue business with a firm that inaccurately skewed results. Also, while PPP is generally well-regarded it is also considered a left-leaning firm.  

This survey was conducted by Public Policy Polling from February 19th to 21st. They interviewed 859 registered Pennsylvania voters and the margin of error is +/- 3.3%.

UPDATE: The Toomey campaign sent the following statement to PoliticsPA in response:

“This is a phony poll by a Democratic outfit for a far left advocacy group. Ask Pennsylvanians if it’s reasonable to let the people have a say over the future direction of the Supreme Court, and they say it is.”