“The political shop thinks it’s very important to announce a woman before Election Day because of the president’s approval rating and the Kavanaugh stuff,” said one source in regular contact with the president, although others added that pressure to appoint a woman is coming from across the White House.

GOP leaders say Kavanaugh’s confirmation battle energized the Republican base, but Trump’s current job approval rating among women, according to a Gallup survey released this month, stands at 30 percent. Twice as many women — 63 percent — disapprove of the president’s performance.

And while Trump bragged this week that a “tremendous” number of women were pleased to see Kavanaugh confirmed, a CNN poll released Thursday showed a 20 percent increase since August in women who hold a negative view of the high court’s newest justice.