A recent online poll found that a majority of Americans want the FBI to be significantly reformed if not abolished outright.
The poll, which was conducted from May 31 to June 2 by Issues & Insights/TechnoMetrica Institute of Policy and Politics, comes just after special counsel John Durham released his long-awaited report on the Trump-Russia investigation. Durham ultimately concluded that the FBI opened the probe without sufficient evidence and mainly relied on the Clinton campaign-funded Steele Dossier.
The survey also follows a series of Congressional hearings where multiple FBI whistleblowers laid out instances of FBI corruption, including targeting parents at school board meetings, the use of illegal surveillance on January 6 suspects and retaliation against whistleblowers.
Participants were presented with multiple options that could be taken to address FBI corruption and asked to choose which one they would like implemented.
A plurality of respondents would prefer to have Congress step in and “reform the FBI to prevent its interference in future elections.” This option proved to be the most popular, garnering support from 39 percent of respondents
An additional 24 percent of respondents said the FBI should be shut down entirely and rebuilt from scratch. Just 15% of respondents felt like the FBI “should be left alone” because it has “learned its lesson.”
Additionally, a significant portion of respondents — 22 percent — said they are “not sure.”
Another recent poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports found that 60 percent of Americans believe the bureau helped cover up crimes involving President Biden and his family. The poll — which was released hours after the bureau finally turned over a document to Congress that allegedly outlines a Biden-linked bribery scheme — found that 48 percent of respondents believe an FBI cover-up involving the document is “very likely.”
Just 33 percent believe that a cover-up was “not likely” while an even smaller portion say it is “not likely at all,” the poll found.