In the midst of a high-drama month in Washington, four to one Americans want an outside investigator to possible abuses at the Internal Revenue Services.
According to a new Quinnipiac poll, Americans support an IRS special prosecutor by 76% to 17% in light of reports that the agency had improperly targeted conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.
“There is overwhelming bipartisan support for a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in the poll data. “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.”
According to the poll, Holder has a negative 23% to 39% job approval rating.
President Obama’s approval rating also suffered a minor blow and is down four points to 45% since the beginning of the month. Once again his disapproval rating is higher at 49%, compared to 45% disapproval from May 1.
Though most Americans want a special prosecutor for the IRS case, 73% of respondents want Washington’s priority to be handling the economy and unemployment, compared to the 22% who think the focus should be on investigating the issues at hand. A recent Gallup poll found that similar results with only 54% of Americans actively following the IRS scandal, while 53% are paying attention to the hearings on the terrorist attacks last year in Benghazi, Libya.
Abby Borovitz