Fox News Poll: 65 percent want Congress to keep investigating Benghazi attack

Sept. 11, 2012: The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames during a protest by an armed group said to have been protesting a film being produced in the United States. (Reuters)

As the House Select Committee on Intelligence meets with witnesses to the Benghazi attack, Americans by a two-to-one margin want Congress to continue to investigate the Obama administration’s handling of the terrorist attack that killed four Americans including a U.S. ambassador.

A just-released Fox News poll finds 65 percent of voters want lawmakers to keep investigating what happened in Benghazi.  While that’s still a majority, support is down from 71 percent who felt that way six months ago (June 22-24, 2013).

Click here for the poll results.

About one third oppose Congress continuing to investigate the attack (31 percent).

The 2012 attack took place at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on the anniversary of September 11.

Witnesses to the attack are expected to meet behind closed doors this week with members of the House Select Committee on Intelligence.

The decline in support for continuing the investigation is across the board.  Among Democrats:  46 percent want Congress to keep looking into Benghazi, down from 54 percent in June.

For Republicans, 83 percent say the investigation should continue, down from 88 percent.  And among independents, it’s down to 65 percent today, from 74 percent six months ago.

Immediately following the attack, President Obama promised to bring the killers to justice.  Sentiment is mixed over whether that will happen:  43 percent think the individuals responsible will be caught and punished, while 49 percent don’t think so.

Poll Pourri

Recent reports disclosed the National Security Agency has been monitoring the phone calls of foreign leaders, including allies such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  Voters disapprove of U.S. intelligence agencies tapping the phones of world leaders by a 54-38 percent margin.

Majorities of Republicans (56 percent), independents (56 percent) and Democrats (52 percent) disapprove of the NSA listening to these calls.

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,006 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from November 10-12, 2013.  The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.