It took a few weeks for the trio of scandals to finally tarnish President Barack Obama's approval ratings but that day has come as a poll conducted by Quinnipiac University has 49 percent of Americans disapproving of the president.
As recently as ten days ago a poll conducted by CNN had the president's approval rating at 53 percent making it appear as if Obama's approval rating couldn't be rattled by even what many would say was the worst single week of his presidency.
It turns out it just took voters a few weeks to let everything soak in. In the Quinnipiac poll people were asked if they felt Obama was "honest and trustworthy." Only 49 percent of respondents said yes; a massive drop from the 58 percent who said yes when the question was asked in September 2011.
The IRS scandal seems to be most responsible for Obama's drop in the poll. When asked which of the three controversies were the most important 44 percent of respondents chose the IRS scandal, followed by Benghazi with 22 percent and only 15 percent chose the seizure of AP records.
When it comes to the IRS scandal the support for an independent prosecutor to conduct the investigation as opposed to Eric Holder doing so is overwhelming. 78 percent of men and 74 percent of women think that an independent prosecutor is needed. Peter Brown, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute released a statement about Holder along with the poll.
"There is overwhelming bipartisan support for a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS," Brown said. "Voters apparently don't like the idea of Attorney General Eric Holder investigating the matter himself, perhaps because they don't exactly think highly of him. Holder gets a negative 23-39 percent job approval rating."
While voters are adamant that the scandals are important and reflect negatively on the Obama administration 73 percent of voters still rank the economy and job growth as the number one priority the government should be addressing. Although Brown cites that a cheerful outlook on the economy may be responsible for the president's approval number staying as high as it is despite all of the turmoil.
"The fact that voters say 34-25 percent that the economy is getting better also may be a reason the president's job approval numbers have not dropped further," Brown said.
The poll revealed that Americans tend to have a massive distrust of the government as a whole. Only 3 percent of those polled said they trust the government to do the right thing almost all of the time, with 12 percent trusting the government most of the time. A whopping 36 percent say that they hardly ever trust the government.
In a competing poll that is conducted daily Gallup had the president's approval at 50 percent with 43 percent disapproving.
