A little Alito: As the Senate cranks up its ponderous judicial confirmation process for Judge Sam Alito today, his initial polling numbers look like Chief Justice John Roberts’ survey results at the beginning of his hearings, according to National Journal’s PollTrack.

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll found 53% of respondents said the Senate should confirm Alito, while 27% said they did not want Alito to be confirmed; 20% had no opinion.

Those numbers are similar to John Roberts’ figures at the same point in the process. An ABC/Post poll conducted in the days before his hearings, which started Sept. 12, showed that 55 percent of respondents wanted the Senate to confirm him. Twenty-six percent said he should not be confirmed.

Abortion is set to be a flashpoint issue during Alito’s hearings. A 38-percent plurality told pollsters that if Alito is confirmed, he would vote to leave abortion law as it currently is. Twenty-six percent predicted he would vote to impose greater restrictions on Roe v. Wade, and 18 percent predicted he would vote to overturn it.

More than 75% of Republicans and 40% of Democrats support Alito.