Poll: Most want Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from 2020 election cases

A majority of registered voters think that Thomas should not be involved in the hundreds of court cases related to the 2020 election and the Capitol insurrection. Twenty-eight percent of voters said he shouldn't, and 19 percent don't know.

Views on Thomas were split along party lines. 76 percent of Democrats and 52 percent of independents think Thomas should not be involved in politics. Only 11 percent of Democrats are against Thomas removing himself from the cases.

Respondents had differing knowledge of the Virginia Thomas controversy. A lot of people said they'd seen, heard or read about Virginia Thomas trying to overturn the 2020 election.

CBS News and The Washington Post obtained text messages that were provided to the committee. In one message, Virginia Thomas wrote, "You are the leader, with him, who is standing for America's constitutional governance at the precipice." Biden and the Left are attempting the greatest Heist of our History, and the majority knows it.

Virginia Thomas was in attendance at the rally where Trump urged his supporters to go to the Capitol in order to block the certification of Biden's Electoral College victory. Rioters fought their way into the Senate chamber and the doors of the House of Representatives after Trump supporters invaded the Capitol. Lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence fled to safety after the riot left dozens of police officers injured.

Several officers from the Washington Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Capitol Police died by suicide after the insurrection. Police shot and killed a rioter during the insurrection.

There are a number of 2020 election-related cases that could make their way to the Supreme Court. More than 800 criminal cases have been filed in the wake of the January 6 riot, as well as a series of civil suits against Trump and others. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has some of these cases.

Virginia Thomas has influence in Washington's conservative circles. A recent POLITICO story called her a part gadfly, part name dropper, and a major D.C. fixture, based on conversations with former White House officials, conservative activists and others close to the Thomases.

Thirty-six percent of those surveyed said they viewed Clarence Thomas unfavorably, while 28 percent said they held a favorable view of him. Only 36 percent of them had heard of him.

The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll reached 2003 registered voters nationwide. The full sample size of the survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.