Poll: Eric Holder Slightly Less Hated Than Sebelius
As Attorney General Eric Holder prepares to step down as head of the Department of Justice (DOJ), a recent YouGov poll asked the American people what they think of the mustachioed mandarin.
Apparently, about as much as they think of a free U2 album—which is to say, not much at all: Holder will leave his job with a 26 percent favorable rating. Thirty-seven percent of respondents give him an unfavorable rating, while another 37 percent have no opinion either way.
The good news for Holder is that he is slightly less disliked than the other two Obama administration officials who stepped down this year. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shineski clocked in at 18 percent favorable, followed closely on the heels by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at 19 percent.
But is 26 percent what Holder deserves, given his track record?
The DOJ continued raiding medical marijuana dispensaries in California despite promises to the contrary. Mexican drug cartels ran guns under the aegis of Holder's DOJ that led to the death of a border agent. It took a 13-hour Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) filibuster to get Holder to admit, after much waffling and gnashing of teeth, that the president can't unilaterally kill American citizens.
From civil liberties to government transparency, Holder doesn't have much to be proud of. And given his past proclivities for harsh prosecution, Holder's recent hat-tips to criminal justice reform seem more like a rearguard action than a cavalry charge against the system.
Which makes it all the more depressing that his approval rating is highest among African Americans at 57 percent favorable—arguably the very demographic most negatively impacted by an aggressive DOJ. What does a guy in this town have to do to be universally reviled?
