As Hillary Clinton prepares to testify in Congress on the Benghazi terrorist attack, the super PAC supporting her campaign has stepped up efforts this week to cast the Republican-led congressional investigation as politically motivated.
The group, Priorities USA, commissioned and released a poll of Democrats and Republicans showing a plurality of respondents believe the House Select Committee was designed with "a political agenda" and a "goal of hurting" Clinton. Half those surveyed said they expect the questioning at Clinton's long-anticipated hearing, scheduled Thursday, will seek to frame the candidate "in a bad light."
The large majority of voters interviewed also agree that too much time has been spent on questions about the email account Clinton used as secretary of state. Among those surveyed, the view is shared by 96% of Democrats, 76% of independents, and 60% of Republicans, according to a copy of the poll and a summary memo, provided by a Priorities USA official on Tuesday.
The respondents include 800 registered voters across the country, a smaller sample size for a national poll. The Priorities USA survey offers Clinton supporters a snapshot of data from both Democrats and Republicans on questions surrounding the Benghazi committee, Clinton’s testimony, and the emails controversy.
After Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy named among his caucus's accomplishments the effect of the Benghazi committee on Clinton's poll numbers, Clinton and her supporters have rallied Democrats against the investigation they've since described as a "political hit job" and an arm of the Republican National Committee.
This month, amid the Benghazi effort, Priorities USA has re-emerged as an increasingly vocal, public presence among the network of outside groups backing Clinton's campaign. The PAC remained largely inactive during the 2014 midterm elections, before undergoing several reorganizations and leadership changes.
On Wednesday, Priorities USA will begin airing its first 2016 television ad, a Benghazi-themed spot set to appear in Washington, D.C., and the four states that hold the first primaries and caucuses, as reported by the New York Times.
The Benghazi survey, the group's latest effort, was conducted over the weekend by Priorities USA's pollsters: Geoff Garin, Clinton's late-in-the-campaign strategist in 2008, and Jefrey Pollock, founding partner and president of Global Strategy Group.
Of the 800 surveyed, 41% identified as Democrats and 37% as Republicans.
The survey finds that a majority of Democrats and Independents consider the committee's cost to taxpayers, totaling more than $4 million, "a waste." The poll also seeks to highlight lagging GOP support for the Benghazi committee: Of the Republicans interviewed, 47% said they believed the money funding the House investigation was "well spent," but 37% called the effort a "waste."
According to Garin and Pollock, the findings broadly reflect a "skepticism about the purpose and value" of the committee: "The bottom line from this research is that the House Benghazi Committee is operating under a cloud of voter skepticism."
Still, many of the Priorities USA respondents said they knew only a little or nothing at all about the House committee — totaling a combined 46% of respondents.
