It also shows that the public is overwhelmingly in favor of a special prosecutor to look into the IRS scandal - including 63% of Democrats.

An interesting snapshot poll put out by Quinnipiac today. It shows the president's support dropped significantly from the last poll taken on May 1 by the same outfit.

Politico:

President Barack Obama's approval rating took a hit amid three controversies surrounding his administration, including an investigation into the Internal Revenue Service unfairly targeting conservative groups seeking nonprofit status, a new poll Thursday showed. Obama has a 45 percent approval rating and a 49 percent disapproval rating -- compared with a 48 percent approval, 45 percent disapproval rating from May 1, according to the Quinnipiac University poll. In particular, Obama plunged among independent voters. Only 37 percent of independents approve of him while 57 percent disapprove, Quinnipiac found. At the start of the month, 42 percent of independents approved and 48 percent disapproved. Nine percent of GOPers approve of Obama, 86 percent disapprove. Among Democrats, 87 percent approve, 8 percent disapprove. Quinnipiac's results stand in contrast to Gallup, which has found that Obama's approval rating has gone largely unchanged since the IRS scandal and other controversies. According to its Gallup Daily Tracking poll, the president has a 50 percent approval and 43 percent disapproval. Meanwhile, 76 percent of American voters think an independent prosecutor should investigate the IRS controversy, including 63 percent of Democrats, 88 percent of GOPers and 78 percent of independents. "There is overwhelming bipartisan support for a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "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."

The takeaway from this poll isn't Obama's approval numbers but rather the direction they are headed. The drop is outside the margin of error and those indie numbers are looking very bad. Public support for a special prosecutor is also a lot higher than one might expect.





But it's clear that both Holder and Obama are going to dig in and refuse to appoint a prosecutor - for the time being. They will hold out as long as they can, hoping to ride out the storm. But congressional committees are busy turning over every rock in the administration. Who knows what they'll uncover?



