Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor spoke for herself Monday on the first day of her confirmation hearings and got some help in the polls as a result.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 38% of U.S. voters now favor her confirmation while 44% are opposed. That’s a five-point increase in opposition from two weeks ago when 37% were in favor of her confirmation and 39% were opposed.

But the new survey was conducted over Sunday and Monday nights, before and after the first day of her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings. On Monday night alone, 42% of voters favored Sotomayor’s confirmation to the high court, while 44% were opposed.

This indicates that while opposition to Sotomayor increased in the days leading up to the hearings, her first day began to reverse that trend. Obviously, where it goes from here depends on what happens at the hearings.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? Sign up now. If it's in the news, it's in our polls.) Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter.

Eighteen percent (18%) of voters are not sure whether Sotomayor should be confirmed. But of that group, 62% approve of the way President Obama is doing his job, so they are very likely to give his first Supreme Court nominee the benefit of the doubt.

Hispanic voters favor Sotomayor’s confirmation by a 61% to 34% margin.

Rasmussen Reports will continue tracking support for her confirmation on a daily basis during the confirmation hearings. Results will be updated each morning at 10:30 EDT. Premium Members can get an advance look at the daily numbers in the Daily Briefing from Scott Rasmussen.

Regardless of whether or not they want her to be confirmed, Americans continue to strongly believe Sotomayor will be approved by the Senate.

Eighty-seven percent (87%) of voters say it is at least somewhat likely that Sotomayor, a federal appeals court judge, will be confirmed by the Senate as the next Supreme Court justice, including 60% who say it is very likely. Only five percent (5%) say it is not very likely. These numbers are virtually identical to the findings in late May just after President Obama announced her nomination to the seat being vacated by retiring Justice David Souter.

Voters are almost evenly divided in the views of Sotomayor. Forty-five percent (45%) have a favorable opinion of her, including 20% very favorable. Forty-six percent (46%) view her unfavorably, with 25% very unfavorable. These numbers also have remained largely the same since her nomination was announced.

Sotomayor sought to ease conservative concerns by declaring in her opening statement on Monday that “the task of a judge is not to make the law, it is to apply the law.” But 50% of voters view her as a liberal, up seven points from the survey in May, while 32% say she is a moderate. Just two percent (2%) say her ideology is conservative, and 16% are not sure.

The partisan divide over the nominee is predictable. Sixty-one percent (61%) of Democrats say Sotomayor should be confirmed, but 72% of Republicans disagree. Among voters not affiliated with either party, 47% oppose confirmation, but 30% favor it.

Seventy-four percent (74%) of GOP voters and 54% of unaffiliateds believe Sotomayor is a liberal, while 47% of Democrats say she is a moderate.

In the hearings, Republicans will be pushing Sotomayor for explanations of both the New Haven decision and her statement in a 2001 speech that “a wise Latina” judge would reach “a better conclusion than a white male.”

It will be interesting to see how voters respond to her answers about the speech since 66% of voters nationwide believe that well-qualified male and female judges would reach the same conclusion most of the time. Sixty-seven percent (67%) believe the same is true of well-qualified white and Hispanic judges.

Eighty-three percent (83%) also say the U.S. legal system should apply the law equally to all Americans rather than using the law to help those who have less power and influence.

Seventy-nine percent (79%) of all voters say they are following new stories about Sotomayor at least somewhat closely, with 41% following very closely. Just two percent (2%) say they are not following at all.

Please sign up for the Rasmussen Reports daily e-mail update (it’s free) or follow us on Twitter. Let us keep you up to date with the latest public opinion news.

See survey questions and toplines. Crosstabs are available to Premium Members only.