A new poll from Rasmussen Reports finds the majority of Americans want Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg out after failing to handle the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment, which resulted in a massive chemical spill and fire.
The poll of 950 likely U.S. voters — conducted over a three-day period (March 6-8) by Opinion Research, LLC — found 51% of all likely voters saying the embattled transportation secretary should resign for not handling the crash properly.
Of those wanting Buttigieg out, 68% of Republicans, 51% of unaffiliated voters, and 35% of Democrats said he should resign.
Also, 49% of Democrats, 37% of unaffiliated voters, and 21% of Republicans believe Buttigieg should stay on the job, with 13% of voters saying they were uncertain about the secretary's future.
On Feb. 3, a 150-car Norfolk Southern train derailed in the village of East Palestine, resulting in a massive chemical spill and fire that released a huge plume of smoke into the air and contaminated air, water, and the ground.
There were also thousands of animal deaths and people feeling ill in the aftermath.
"Who is going to buy contaminated land?" 65-year-old resident Jim Stewart, who was planning to sell his home and retire before the crash told CNN Sunday.
"The older people are willing to stay and live it out. The younger bunch, they are smarter. They're thinking of their families. I wouldn’t want my grandchildren here," Stewart continued. "We don't know if the ground is going to be good enough to grow grass. There are too many unknowns."
Buttigieg didn't visit East Palestine until Feb. 23, a day after former President Donald Trump brought water and supplies to the community.
"We're also holding ourselves to highest standards, in terms of the work that we're doing, and the work we're going to continue to do to both respond to this incident and to make sure that we make rail safer to everyone who is in a community that is close to rail lines and anybody who is involved in freight rail at all," Buttigieg said during the visit, according to CBS News.
According to the Rasmussen poll, 41% of all voters said Buttigieg is doing a worse job than his predecessors leading the U.S. Department of Transportation, with 26% saying he is doing better, and 25% believing he's doing "about the same."
The derailment was not the first criticism Buttigieg has received since President Joe Biden appointed him in 2021.
Buttigieg took several months of paternity leave after adopting a child, and then appeared helpless when thousands of airline flights were canceled during the fall.
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