all but evaporated<\/a> in the heat of the confirmation battle.<\/p>\nRepublican enthusiasm has surged by 12 percentage points since July, the survey found, leaving the two parties statistically tied.<\/p>\n
GOP turnout could hinge in large part on a contingent that could be called the \u201cMama Bears\u201d \u2014 women who defend Kavanaugh and fear their sons could fall victim to unfounded allegations in the #MeToo age.<\/p>\n
The allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh have riled women nationwide \u2014 but their anger, it turns out, goes both ways.<\/p>\n
A poll taken after the nation heard Christine Blasey Ford\u2019s testimony against Kavanaugh, followed by his impassioned denial, found 55 percent of women opposed his elevation to the Supreme Court, but 37 percent were in favor.<\/p>\n
On Staten Island, the Kavanaugh hearings outraged Angie Moore.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe minute a conservative gets accused, it\u2019s like due process goes out the window,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In Missouri, where Democrat Claire McCaskill is running for re-election, 47 percent of female voters have told pollsters her opposition to Kavanaugh has turned them against her, while 42 percent approve of her \u201cno\u201d vote.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are watching someone be declared guilty without proof,\u201d Kelly Melang of Beech Mountain, NC, told her two teen boys.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe try our best to raise them to be respectful and honorable,\u201d she added. \u201cBut we\u2019ve had to sit them down and tell them, you have to watch your back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI fear for my sons,\u201d said Gayle Chasen of Staten Island. \u201cI believe in women\u2019s rights, but I also believe in the deviousness of girls. Anybody can come up with something from the past and just make up any kind of story.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some moms took to social media to declare they\u2019d bought calendars for their sons to record their daily activities, just in case they have to one day defend themselves as Kavanaugh did.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so terrifying,\u201d Freeman said of her 15-year-old son. \u201cI\u2019m not giving him a calendar. I\u2019m just thinking about not letting him go anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freeman, who calls herself a Christian conservative, said the controversy has sharply boosted voter enthusiasm in her community before Election Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were not Trump supporters initially, but we voted for him because of the Supreme Court,\u201d she said. \u201cSo we have to make sure our voices are heard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chasen, a Democrat \u201cstill on the fence\u201d about the coming elections, is livid about the tactics her party used in its effort to take Kavanaugh down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat an embarrassment,\u201d she said, citing the sex scandals of Democrats such as Bill Clinton and Eliot Spitzer. \u201cHow dare they badger this guy?\u201d she asked. \u201cThey\u2019re all dirty.\u201d<\/p>\n
No matter how the Kavanaugh confirmation may affect the midterms one month away, its shock waves could continue rumbling for years.<\/p>\n
Susan Collins (R-Maine), who cast a \u201cyes\u201d vote that helped save Kavanaugh \u2014 and the Trump administration \u2014 from a humiliating defeat on the Senate floor, may have already drawn a high-profile challenger for her seat when she runs for re-election in 2020.<\/p>\n
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