Fox News poll: Majority thinks White House knew about IRS actions

According to a Fox News poll released Tuesday, most voters think the White House was involved in the IRS scandal in some way: 37 percent think the administration knew it was going on but didn’t initiate the policy, while another 29 percent believe the White House directed the IRS to go after those groups.

About a quarter (24 percent) says the White House had absolutely nothing to do with what the IRS was doing.

Almost all of those who identify with the Tea Party movement think the White House was involved: 58 percent think the administration intentionally had them targeted, and 31 percent believe that while the White House knew about the unfair treatment, it wasn’t behind it.

Confidence in the IRS has dropped significantly. The poll finds 42 percent of voters have “a great deal” (7 percent) or “some” (35 percent) confidence in the agency. That’s down from 62 percent who had at least some confidence in the IRS in May 2003 (the last time the Fox News poll asked Americans to rate the IRS).

Seventy-eight percent of voters are concerned that certain groups have been singled out.

The poll asked about three current Obama administration controversies. A 32-percent plurality says the IRS scandal is the worst, followed by Benghazi (27 percent) and the Justice Department seizing the phone records of reporters (21 percent).

Democrats (26 percent) and independents (28 percent) are more than twice as likely as Republicans (11 percent) to say the Justice Department controversy is the worst.

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