Popular support had been waning for the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh even before a bombshell allegation of sexual assault appeared late Sunday.
According to several public opinion polls, taken before the latest allegation, public support for Kavanaugh's nomination is now lower than for any Supreme Court nominee since Robert Bork.
On Sunday, in a bombshell report from The New Yorker, one of the judge's Yale University classmates, Deborah Ramirez, said he exposed himself to her at a college party in the early 1980s. Kavanaugh called the allegation a "smear" and said that "this alleged event from 35 years ago did not happen."
Just hours earlier, the Senate Judiciary Committee had announced it had reached an agreement to hold a public hearing Thursday for Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, another accuser who said he sexually assaulted her at a party when they were teenagers.
The Judiciary Committee also contacted Stormy Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti after he claimed on Sunday that a client of his had damaging information about Kavanaugh.
Mike Davis, the chief counsel for nominations for the Senate Judiciary Committee, emailed him requesting the information, according to a message Avenatti publicly shared.
The latest disclosures have widened the partisan divide on Kavanaugh's nomination and intensified pressure on a handful of senators from both major parties who will play a critical role in determining whether Kavanaugh is confirmed.
Even before the latest disclosures, public support had been turning against Kavanaugh's nomination, according to a series of public opinion polls.