--- title: "Benghazi Investigation Does Not Reignite Broad Public Interest" description: "Overview The public paid limited attention to last week’s congressional hearings on Benghazi. Fewer than half (44%) of Americans say they are following the hearings very or fairly closely, virtually unchanged from late January when Hillary Clinton testified. Last October, 61% said they were following the early stages of the investigation at least fairly closely. […]" date: "2013-05-13" authors: - name: "Pew Research Center" url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2013/05/13/benghazi-investigation-does-not-reignite-broad-public-interest/" categories: - "International Affairs" - "News Content Analysis" - "News Coverage" - "Terrorism" datasets: - name: "May 9-12 2013 Weekly Survey" url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/dataset/may-9-12-2013-weekly-survey/" --- # Benghazi Investigation Does Not Reignite Broad Public Interest ## Table of Contents 1. [Benghazi Investigation Does Not Reignite Broad Public Interest](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2013/05/13/benghazi-investigation-does-not-reignite-broad-public-interest/markdown) - [Broad Public Interest in Rescue of Cleveland Women](#broad-public-interest-in-rescue-of-cleveland-women) 2. [About the Survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2013/05/13/about-the-survey-197/markdown) ## Overview [![5-13-13 #1](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2013/05/5-13-13-1.png)](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2013/05/5-13-13-1.png) The public paid limited attention to last week’s congressional hearings on Benghazi. Fewer than half (44%) of Americans say they are following the hearings very or fairly closely, virtually unchanged from late January when Hillary Clinton testified. Last October, 61% said they were following the early stages of the investigation at least fairly closely. The national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted May 9-12 among 1,000 adults, finds that Americans are deeply split over how both the administration and congressional Republicans are handling the situation. Four-in-ten (40%) say the Obama administration has generally been *dishonest* when it comes to providing information about the Benghazi attack, but 37% say they have been generally [![5-13-13 #2](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2013/05/5-13-13-2.png)](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2013/05/5-13-13-2.png) honest. And when it comes to the GOP-led investigation, 36% say Republicans have *gone too far* in the hearings, while 34% say they have handled them appropriately. Not surprisingly, these reactions divide cleanly along partisan lines. Among Republicans, 70% say the Obama administration has been dishonest and 65% say the hearings have been handled appropriately. Among Democrats, 60% say the hearings have gone too far, and 62% say the administration has been honest. The judgment of independents leans against the administration at this point: By a 48% to [![5-13-13 #3](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2013/05/5-13-13-3.png)](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2013/05/5-13-13-3.png) 30% margin independents say the administration has been generally dishonest. But independents are split when it comes to Republican handling of the hearings. Republicans are twice as likely as Democrats (36% vs. 18%) to be following news about the Benghazi hearings very closely. This mirrors earlier measures of [![5-13-13 #4](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2013/05/5-13-13-4.png)](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2013/05/5-13-13-4.png) interest in the Benghazi situation dating back to [last year](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2012/11/19/more-following-fiscal-cliff-debate-than-petraeus-investigation/). Republicans also are critical of what they see as insufficient press attention to the issue: 51% of Republicans say that news organizations have been giving *too little coverage* to the Benghazi hearings, compared with 26% of Democrats and 33% of independents. About half (56%) of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say they regularly watch the Fox News Channel, and this group is particularly frustrated over the Benghazi situation. Fully 79% of Republicans who regularly watch Fox News say the Obama administration has been dishonest, compared with 60% of Republicans who don’t watch Fox regularly. Nearly half (46%) of Republicans who regularly watch Fox News say they are following the story very closely – compared with 23% among other Republicans. Those who regularly watch Fox News are also far more critical of the news media: 59% say the hearings have not received sufficient coverage by the news media. ### []Broad Public Interest in Rescue of Cleveland Women News about the rescue of three women who had been held captive in a Cleveland home was far and away the public’s top story last week. [![5-13-13 #5](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2013/05/5-13-13-5.png)](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2013/05/5-13-13-5.png) Four-in-ten (40%) say they followed the story very closely, more than followed reports about the condition of the U.S. economy (28% very closely) or news about the Benghazi hearings (23% very closely). Interest in the rescue of the Cleveland women is higher than for the discovery of Jaycee Dugard, in August of 2009; at that time, 27% said they were very closely following news about Dugard, following her reappearance more than 18 years after having gone missing. Women (45%) are more likely than men (35%) to say they are very closely following news about the rescue of the women in Cleveland. [![5-13-13 #6](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2013/05/5-13-13-6.png)](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2013/05/5-13-13-6.png) Amidst high public interest in the story, 61% say news organizations have given the right amount of coverage to the Cleveland rescue; fewer than a quarter (21%) say there has been too much new coverage and 10% say there has been too little. News about the immigration debate in Washington (20% very closely) and political violence in Syria (17%) garnered modest levels of public attention. In 2013, Pew Research surveys have measured interest in the debate over immigration five times, with very close interest climbing no higher than 23% in early April. --- **Next:** [About the Survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2013/05/13/about-the-survey-197.md)