Poll Finds Majority Of Americans Support Further Congressional Inquiry Into Benghazi

A majority of Americans support another congressional investigation into the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on a diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll released Tuesday.

Fifty-one percent said they support further inquiry into the incident, which left U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others dead, while 42 percent do not.

Republicans have argued that a new select committee will give lawmakers an opportunity to explore unanswered questions about the night of the attack. The survey will certainly give them something to point to when critics say the committee's investigation is nothing more than a partisan witch hunt meant to air dirty laundry ahead of a possible presidential run by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

While the poll unsurprisingly found that 72 percent of Republicans supported another investigation, it also recorded that 31 percent of Democrats and 52 percent of independents said the same.

In more bad news for the White House, 58 percent of those surveyed said they believe the Obama administration tried to cover up the facts, compared with 32 percent who said the White House was being honest about what happened.

Clinton also isn't spared from public opinion.

Fifty percent of those surveyed said they disapproved of her handling of the situation, while 37 percent said they approved.

In excerpts from her upcoming book, Hard Choices, Clinton defended her handling of the attacks and lashed out at Republicans for exploiting the tragedy by employing a "regrettable amount of misinformation" about the incident.