The Wall Street Journal reports:
Recent controversies surrounding the Internal Revenue Service and other government agencies have sown doubts about the honesty of the Obama administration, but most people don't hold the president personally responsible for the agency actions, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds.
A majority of poll respondents, some 55%, said IRS scrutiny of conservative groups raised some level of doubt about the administration's "overall honesty and integrity." Similar shares said the same about the Justice Department's subpoena of reporter phone records and about the administration's handling of the deadly terrorist attacks on a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya.
Moreover, a plurality of 43% in the poll said IRS scrutiny of conservative groups was part of a widespread effort by those in government, compared with 29% who saw it as a case of a few officials acting on their own.
Still, despite the negative tone of much news coverage of the controversies, President Barack Obama has survived so far with his personal image largely intact. Some 48% approved of the job he is doing as president and 47% disapproved, matching his rating in a Journal/NBC poll in April.
