Poll: Majority Supports Benghazi Investigation

Benghazi-Consulate

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that a majority of Americans, including a sizable number of Democrats support the House Select Committee investigation into the Benghazi attack:

Washington (CNN) - Around half the public says they support another congressional investigation into the Benghazi attack, according to a new national poll.

The reason?

The ABC News/Washington Post survey indicates that nearly six in ten say the Obama administration has tried to cover up the facts on the September 11, 2012 attack, which left U.S. ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead.

As for Hillary Clinton, half of those questioned in the poll, which was released Tuesday, say they disapprove of how then-secretary of state handled the attack.

(…)

According to the poll, 51% say they support another congressional investigation, with 42% saying the incident’s been investigated enough already. As you can imagine, the survey indicates a wide partisan divide. Seventy-two percent of Republicans questioned say they back the new investigation, but that number drops to 52% among independents and just 31% among Democrats.

Fifty-eight percent say the Obama administration has tried to cover up the facts, with 32% saying it has honestly disclosed what it knows about what happened in Benghazi. Again there’s a large partisan gap, with 84% of Republicans, 65% of independents, but only 30% of Democrats saying the administration has tried to cover things up.

Half of those questioned say they disapprove of how Clinton handled the attack, with 37% saying the approve. Once again, there’s a partisan divide, with 78% of Republicans, 58% of independents, but only 22% of Democrats giving the former secretary of state a thumbs down on how she handled the incident.

Two observations can be made from this poll.

First of all, Republicans can claim that there is popular support for their efforts to continue asking questions regarding the Benghazi attack, which seems like quite a powerful rejoinder to Democratic claims that this is a Republican witch hunt. Second, it may indicate that questions about Benghazi and her time as Secretary of State are going to be more difficult for Hillary Clinton to answer than many, including myself, may have anticipated.

FILED UNDER: National Security, Public Opinion Polls, Terrorism, US Politics, , , , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. gVOR08 says:

    …a powerful rejoinder to Democratic claims that this is a Republican witch hunt.

    This does not follow logically. The fact, according to this poll, that Dem voters don’t know this is a GOP witch hunt is not evidence that it is not a GOP witch hunt. As I’ve mentioned before, the dirty little secret of PolySci is that the electorate, including the Dem electorate, are a box of rocks.

  2. stonetools says:

    Indeed, the Administration has tried to cover up the CIA operation that was ongoing at Benghazi annex. But somehow, I doubt the Select Committee will be concerned about that. I’m unsurprised that after two years of continious propoganda from Fox News and talk radio that people do think there is something to Benghazi. Thanks to FoxNews, etc., the public also doubts climate change. Propoganda works.

  3. C. Clavin says:

    First of all, Republicans can claim that there is popular support for their efforts to continue asking questions regarding the Benghazi attack, which seems like quite a powerful rejoinder to Democratic claims that this is a Republican witch hunt.

    I say move for impeachment now.
    Andrew McCarthy says you guys need popular support…apparently you think you now have it.
    http://pjmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2014/06/02/higher-and-higher-crimes/
    Go ahead. I’m just tired of listening to all of this utter nonsense.
    Put up or shut the f’ up already.

  4. gVOR08 says:

    @C. Clavin: Damn you C. Clavin. I wasted near two minutes reading that link thinking I’d finally see WTF those people think Obama did that’s impeachable.

  5. Scott says:

    Third, it reflects how effective relentless propaganda can be. If the question was prefaced with: After x number of committee hearings, XX pages of testimony, investigation by xx number of congressional committees, do you support another investigation into the Benghazi affair? I think the polling may be different.

  6. al-Ameda says:

    Seventy-two percent of Republicans questioned say they back the new investigation, but that number drops to 52% among independents and just 31% among Democrats.

    Four inferences can be drawn from this polling:
    52% of “Independents” are Republicans
    28% of Republicans are RINOs
    31% of Democrats are DINOs
    100% of those who support another Benghazi investigation are out-to-lunch.

    This reminds me of the finish to the 1972 Olympic Men’s Basketball championship game between the USA and USSR. Game officials would not let the game expire until the USSR finally made a winning shot – officials kept putting time back on the clock. This is a Republican attempt to run investigations until they can fix the result.

  7. rudderpedals says:

    Obviously there was a large agency presence over there. Are they gonna interrogate Petreus to find out what happened on his watch?

  8. C. Clavin says:
  9. jukeboxgrad says:

    Doug:

    a sizable number of Democrats support the House Select Committee investigation

    Why? Because the same stupid fallacy that is at the heart of the GOP narrative has also been embraced by the press, which means a lot of people are being misled. That darn liberal media.

    What I’m talking about is explained here: link, link.