The majority of Americans don’t want the Justice Department to investigate the IRS, and would prefer the government to appoint a special prosecutor according to a brand new Quinnipiac poll.
A whopping 76 percent of voters say they would like a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS targeting of conservative groups, according to a new Quinnipiac University national poll released today. This includes 78 to 17 percent among independent voters and 63 to 30 percent of Democrats.
Earlier this month in a TV appearance, Mitt Romney voiced his support for a special council to investigate the administration.
“The president is saying that he and his team will look into it, but frankly they can’t investigate themselves,” Romney said.
There has been growing concern from both Republicans and Democrats over Attorney General Eric Holder’s involvement in the IRS and Justice Department scandals that may be leading to distrust in the agency’s investigation.
“There is overwhelming bipartisan support for a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Voters apparently don’t like the idea of Attorney General Eric Holder investigating the matter himself, perhaps because they don’t exactly think highly of him. Holder gets a negative 23 to 39 percent job approval rating.”
It appears that because of the scandal, overall support of the Obama administration has decreased. President Obama’s job approval rating has gone down since a May 1 poll before the IRS charges surfaced. Approval ratings among Democrats and Republicans remain virtually the same; the biggest drop in approval comes from independent voters, who gave the president a negative 42 to 48 percent approval rating at the beginning of May, and now give him a negative 37 to 57 percent rating.
According to the Quinnipiac poll, 44 percent of voters view the IRS targeting as the most important scandal of the three, with 24 percent citing Benghazi as most important and 15 percent citing the AP records seizure.
