Posted on 06/25/2012 2:52:56 AM PDT by Libloather
Hill Poll: Voters: Obama over-reached blocking Fast and Furious docs
By Niall Stanage - 06/25/12 05:00 AM ET
A clear majority of likely voters believes President Obama has exercised his executive power inappropriately — particularly in blocking the release of documents relating to Operation Fast and Furious, according to a new poll for The Hill.
But in a sign that the electorate’s frustration extends to Capitol Hill, voters by a significant margin also feel Congress has behaved in an obstructionist manner toward the president.
Amid the discontent over the behavior of both Obama and members of Congress, the poll found a strong preference among voters for a return to one-party rule in Washington.
Obama last week invoked executive privilege to stop certain Justice Department documents relating to the botched “gun-walking” operation from being disclosed to the House Oversight and Government Reform committee.
The same panel, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), voted along party lines to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.
The Hill Poll found that likely voters disapproved by an almost 2-to-1 margin of Obama’s assertion of presidential power in the case. Overall, 56 percent of voters disapproved of his action, while only 29 percent approved.
Democrats have accused Issa of waging a partisan campaign that has no real purpose save for embarrassing Obama and Holder.
Issa has always denied his pursuit of Holder is politically driven.
“Our purpose has never been to hold the attorney general in contempt,” he said last week. “Our purpose has always been to get the information the committee needs to complete its work — that it is not only entitled to do, but obligated to do.”
White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters that “the assertion of privilege has to do with the absolute necessity of retaining the executive branch’s independence.”
The defense is not proving an easy sell with voters, particularly independents.
Sixty-one percent of independents said they disapproved of the president’s actions, and just 25 percent approved. Among Republicans, opposition to the president’s use of executive privilege was more entrenched at 78 percent.
Even 28 percent of Democrats, and 30 percent of self-identified liberals disapproved of Obama’s position.
The margins were slimmer, but still significant, when voters were asked whether they believed Obama had, in general, used executive power appropriately or inappropriately.
Fifty-two percent said Obama had used his executive authority inappropriately, while 43 percent backed the president.
Last month, Obama issued an executive order that will allow up to 800,000 illegal immigrants brought to the country as children to remain in the United States and obtain work authorization.
Even as voters have doubts about the president’s actions on executive privilege, they empathize with him in his struggles with Congress.
By a 7-point margin — 48 percent to 41 percent — likely voters said Congress had been obstructionist toward the president. Independents sided with Obama by a margin of 13 points, 51 percent to 38 percent.
Giving added succor to the Obama reelection campaign, voters said, albeit by a narrow 43 percent to 38 percent margin, that he has been better than Congress at addressing the challenges facing the nation. While conservatives and liberals split in predictable ways, moderates favored Obama by a full 15 points.
Whether out of frustration with the political system in general, or Congress in particular, voters are currently displaying little appetite for divided government.
By a double-digit margin (44 percent to 31 percent), voters said they would prefer a single party to control both Congress and the White House. Voters who identified as Republican and Democratic agreed on this point by almost identical margins.
The poll also reinforces the sense of a gender split in the nation’s politics.
Across the board, female voters were much more supportive of Obama than were male voters.
For example, women asserted by a 17-point margin that Congress has been obstructive of the president rather than acting as an appropriate check on the White House.
Men leaned the opposite way, by a 5-point margin.
The Hill Poll was conducted among 1,000 likely voters on June 21 by Pulse Opinion Research and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Click here to view data from The Hill Poll.
First “duh” of the day ping.
Just Confirms the stupidity of women,They should not be allowed to run Anything,Partcularly a FREE COUNTRY
“Giving added succor to the Obama reelection campaign, voters said, albeit by a narrow 43 percent to 38 percent margin, that he has been better than Congress at addressing the challenges facing the nation. While conservatives and liberals split in predictable ways, moderates favored Obama by a full 15 points. “
People are nuts.
Leftist have always loved to combine “brown-skinned” with “victims” when throwing accusations at Republicans. So much for that bull****.
Who thought it would be a good idea for women to vote?
The fact that the Contempt vote came along party lines only convinces me more that the Democrat party is a party of criminals.
Fast & Curious was a criminal action, and any decent human would want to get to the bottom of it.
PEOPLE HAVE DIED>
Not looking good for the won.
Push Iowahawk’s one-liner with everyone you can:
“Fast & Furious is Watergate with toe tags.”
Chilling. Americans increasingly see the President rather than Congress as lawgiver.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2898699/posts?page=1
The vote should be reserved for property owners only, not those whose livelihoods depend on handouts and friendly legislation, regardless of gender.
“Who thought it would be a good idea for women to vote?”
Answer: 1) Women 2) the foolish men who thought they could benefit from women’s vote.
JUST My < humble opinion. BTW, my wife votes conservative (or she would not be living with me)
bobo is just covering up for holder because holder has been covering up for bobo all this time; it is just payback.
bobo merely thinks that since he is potus (read: king, therefore above the law) he can use ‘executive privilege’ to prevent ANY document he doesn’t want the people to see from being made available, regardless of whether bobo was involved in the issue or not. He thinks he is omnipotent and can do as he chooses with no consideration for the law.
the poll found a strong preference among voters for a return to one-party rule in Washington.
Emphasis is mine.
I don't care if it's Dems or Reps, the Founders KNEW that one party rule would destroy this country. We should be ruled by a plurality, not by a singularity of voting blocs.
It's become quite obvious some Americans are simply ineducable. If by now the facts aren't yet clear as to how damaging to this nation's future this administration is, they never will be.
Apparently they long for the "good" old days of Obama's first two years, in which the dems ran everything.
That emotional bond with Obama continues. Voters don't oppose him... they want him to do yet more.
I'm not at all encouraged here... with the economy tanking, with all Obama's myriad failures, missteps and destructive policy actions... and the best that we can take away this is voters feel sorry for him.
LOL
Hey ballplayer, talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Do you think men with limited command of punctuation, spelling and the English language in general should be allowed to run anything?
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