From: Tom Jensen, Director of Public Policy Polling
To: Interested Parties
Subject: Voters to Gowdy, Bush: Release Your E-Mails
Date: 9-14-15
A new national Public Policy Polling survey finds that voters think Trey Gowdy’s investigation is more about trying to hurt Hillary Clinton than anything having to do with figuring out what happened in Benghazi, and that they think Gowdy should have to release his e-mails related to the investigation. They also think Jeb Bush should turn over his e-mail server from his time as Governor, and that Bush is playing politics by attacking Clinton on this issue when he had his own e-mail set up in a similar fashion.
Key findings from the survey include:
- 54% of voters nationally think the primary motivation of Gowdy’s investigation is politics and hurting Hillary Clinton, compared to only 40% who think it’s actually about getting to the bottom of what happened in Benghazi.
- 62% of voters think that Gowdy should release his e-mails related to the investigation, compared to just 27% who don’t think he should have to. There’s a bipartisan consensus on the need for Gowdy to release his e-mails with majorities of Democrats (70/17), Republicans (58/35), and independents (53/33) all in agreement on the matter.
- Voters see it as a basic fairness issue- only 39% think it’s reasonable for Gowdy to demand Clinton release her e-mails while declining to release his own, compared to 56% who think he’s employing a double standard by his refusal to make his e-mails available.
- The public’s demand for Gowdy to release his e-mails fits well into a broader finding that only 20% of voters across the country think members of Congress should be allowed to keep their work-related e-mails secret, compared to 73% who don’t think they should be allowed to do that. Republicans (80/14) are particularly adamant that members of Congress should have to release their work related e-mails, with independents (77/14) and Democrats (65/29) in broad agreement as well.
- 54% of voters believe that Jeb Bush should follow Clinton’s lead and turn over his email server from his time as Governor to Florida officials for inspection, to 40% who don’t think he should turn over his e-mails. 52% of voters think that Bush is just playing politics by hammering Clinton for e-mail practices that were similar to his own while in office, to only 42% who think he’s raising a legitimate issue.
Voters are sending a clear message: they want Republicans like Trey Gowdy and Jeb Bush to play by the same rules that those GOP leaders want Hillary Clinton to play by. They think it’s disingenuous for them to refuse to release their own e-mails while demanding that Clinton release all of hers.
Public Policy Polling surveyed 586 registered voters nationally on September 8th and 9th on behalf of Correct the Record. The survey’s margin of error is +/-4.1%
[gview file=”http://correct2016.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/NationalPollResults-Hillarys-emails.pdf” height=”800px” width=”600px” save=”0″]