Americans overwhelmingly support the appointment of a special counsel to look into President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, according to a poll released Wednesday.
The CNN poll found that 84% of Americans approve of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment of Robert Hur as special counsel. Among Democrats, 80% approved of the decision, compared to 88% of Republicans who approved.
Roughly the same percentage of Americans said they approve of Mr. Garland’s appointment of Jack Smith as special counsel to investigate whether former President Donald Trump also mishandled classified documents.
Only 43% of Americans approved of the Biden administration’s handling of the situation, with 75% of Democrats and 20% of Republicans approving.
When asked if they view the matter as “at least somewhat serious,” 67% of respondents said it was.
Overall, 44% said they thought Mr. Biden had “done something unethical but not illegal,” while 37% said they thought he broke the law and 18% said he did nothing wrong.
In the case of Mr. Trump, 52% said they think the former president had done something illegal.
Federal law strictly forbids the removal or retention of classified documents or materials outside secured locations without authorization, which Mr. Biden would not have had during his tenure as vice president or in the Senate.
The CNN survey was conducted Jan. 19-22 with some respondents polled before Saturday’s revelation that additional classified documents were found at Mr. Biden’s Delaware home. It was concluded before the announcement that classified documents were found at the home of former Vice President Mike Pence.
The CNN poll, conducted by SSRS, surveyed 1,004 adults and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.