O’Connor Support Grows

WASHINGTON – More than half the Senate either supports andra D. O’Connor for the Supreme ourt or is leaning that way, and here are no definite votes against her yet, an Associated Press survey hows The survey, taken Wednesday and Thursday, found 33 senators committed to vote for the 51-year-old Arizona appeals court judge and 20 leaning toward supporting her nomination as the first woman Supreme Court justice. There were no declarations of opposition, with 45 senators undecided and two not responding to the survey.

But many among the 45 undecided senators said they were pleased President Reagan had chosen a woman and, while they had made no firm decisions, would be inclined to support her from what is known from initial press reports and other sources about her background . Those committed to Judge O’Connor spill across the political spectrum, ranging from Republicans S.I. Hayakawa of California and Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, the Judiciary Committee chairman , to Democrats Bill Bradley of New Jersey and Alan Cranston of California, the assistant minority leader. Many senators who said they support Judge O’Connor indicated that could change if investigations into her background turned up some unexpected problems.

Typical of the responses was that of Sen. LLoyd Bentsen, D-Texas, who declined to say he would definitely vote for Judge O’Connor. “I don’t know much about the nominee, but I commend the president for his decision to name the first woman to sit on the highest