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Majority of Americans Reject FBI Decision to Forego Charges Against Clinton

Hillary Clinton
AP
July 11, 2016

The majority of Americans disapprove of the FBI’s decision not to press criminal charges against Hillary Clinton for using a private email server during her time as secretary of state, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Monday.

While more than half of voters reject the FBI’s recommendation, six in ten said the outcome will have no effect on their vote in the general election this November.

Still, 28 percent said they would be less likely to back Clinton for president versus just ten percent who said the FBI’s announcement would make them more likely to support the former secretary of state.

FBI Director James Comey said last week that while his bureau would not pursue charges against Clinton, she and her former State Department aides were "extremely careless" in their use of a private email server.

A majority of voters—57 percent—said the issue worries them about how Clinton might handle responsibilities should she clinch the White House, with more than 4 in 10 responding that they are "very worried." Thirty-nine percent said it’s unrelated to how she would act as president.

Congressional Republicans have called on the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to withhold classified information from Clinton during the remainder of her presidential campaign. GOP lawmakers have also demanded that Clinton be stripped of her top level security clearance.

Democrats have also criticized Clinton’s email practices. The poll found that over 3 in 10 Democrats disapproved of Comey’s recommendations with the same number responding that the issue worries them about Clinton’s presidential responsibility.

The survey was conducted between July 6 and 7 and surveyed 519 adults through landline and cell phones. The margin of error is plus or minus 5 percentage points.