A large number of Americans think President Obama dropped the ball in his handling of the aftermath of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, and many believe the administration knowingly misled them concerning the attack,
according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll.
The poll found that 42 percent of Americans disapprove of the way Obama dealt with the repercussions of the attack, while 27 percent said they approve, the Huffington Post reports.
Not surprisingly, the viewpoint was divided along party lines.
Republicans overwhelmingly disapproved 78 percent to 4 percent, while Democrats were in favor Obama’s moves, 56 percent to 7 percent.
Independents disapproved by a 47 percent to 19 percent margin.
Forty-two percent of those polled said the Obama administration “deliberately misled” the public on the issue, while 33 percent said the administration “shared facts as they became available.” Twenty-five percent said they weren't sure.
The poll was conducted before Friday’s news about the State Department’s push to make changes to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s initial talking points after the attack occurred.
The numbers weren’t much better for Obama when it came to the public’s confidence that future attacks of this kind would be prevented.
A combined 40 percent said they are either very confident or somewhat confident that the Obama administration and State Department are doing what’s needed to prevent similar attacks in the future, while a combined 46 percent said that they were not very confident or not at all confident.
The poll showed that news about the attack and its aftermath is still very much on the minds of many Americans.
Fifty percent of respondents said that they've heard a lot about it, 33 percent have heard a little, and 12 percent have heard nothing at all.
The poll was conducted May 7-8 among 1,000 adults using a sample selected from YouGov's opt-in online panel to match the demographics and other characteristics of the adult U.S. population.
Factors considered include age, race, gender, education, employment, income, marital status, number of children, voter registration, time and location of Internet access, interest in politics, religion and church attendance.
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