Poll: Majority say Sessions lied under oath and should resign
More than half of those who responded to a new Quinnipiac poll released this week said Attorney General Jeff Sessions lied under oath during his Senate confirmation hearings when he said he “did not have communications with the Russians” and should resign because of it.
Fifty-two percent of those polled by Quinnipiac said Sessions was guilty of lying under oath when he told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he had not been in contact with any Russian official when he had, in fact, met twice with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during the presidential campaign. Fifty-one percent of respondents said Sessions should resign over the controversy, which began when The Washington Post reported the previously undisclosed meetings.
Sessions and officials from the administration of President Donald Trump have argued that the attorney general did not lie in his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee because he was being questioned only about his activities as a campaign surrogate for Trump and not as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
That argument has failed to hold water for most Democrats, some of whom have demanded that Sessions appear again before the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain himself.
More broadly, 54 percent of those polled said they disapprove of Trump’s handling U.S. policy towards Russia, a nation with which Trump has promised to seek common ground after relations between Washington and Moscow chilled over the course of former President Barack Obama’s presidency.
Although Trump has denied that they exist, media reports have outlined a growing list of ties between individuals close to the president and the Russian government, including Sessions, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former campaign adviser Carter Page.
Among those polled, 66 percent said they would support an “independent commission” to investigate ties between former Trump campaign advisers and the Kremlin. Sixty-one percent said they are at least “somewhat concerned” about Trump’s relationship with Russia.
On healthcare, a narrow majority – 51 percent – said Trump should not support efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, although 49 percent said the president should work with Republicans in Congress to repeal some parts of the law. Trump has expressed public support for the bill rolled out Monday by House Republicans that would repeal Obama’s controversial healthcare law but keep in place some of its more popular provisions.
Overall, Trump’s approval rating among respondents climbed to 41 percent, three points higher than the 38 percent who said they approved of the president’s handling of his job in late February. Fifty-two percent said they disapproved of Trump’s handling of the presidency, a three point dip from last month’s poll.
The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted from March 2-6 via landlines and cell phones, reaching 1,323 voters across the country. The margin of error was plus-or-minus 2.7 points.
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