No doubt, particularly among vulnerable Senate Repubs. Looks like their pal, ol' Mitch, is trying to throw them under the bus with a fight they likely want no part of. Well, that's if Repubs actually follow through.
I think the Repubs are fucked no matter what they do. If they let a nomination pass they lose their rabid base but gain the support of moderates and a talking point about not being obstructionist. If they block a nomination to a point that the general public thinks they are being asses then they risk losing the support of moderates in the election, but they gain in popularity with their rabid base who will hate McConnell no matter what he does.
If McConnell was smart he would agree to a moderate nomination pick and aim for the fat middle in the election. The base (who happens to hate McConnell with a passion) is pretty much rallying around two people he detests, Cruz and Trump. I read an article the other day that picked up on conservative pundits wondering just "how conservative" the conservative voters are if they are flocking to Trump, a very not-conservative candidate. The conclusion they were reluctant to draw was that many were attracted to conservatism by unfulfilled the promises (dogwhistles) that Trump, a liberal, is now is promising to deliver to them. IMO, right now it's all about hate on the right so it's going to be very interesting to see what direction McConnell takes his party.
I predict that he will make the wrong choice and obstruct every single bit of the way in an unsuccessful bid to regain the respect of conservative voters while crapping on everyone else.