US News

Voters approve of Obama, disapprove of Palin response to Tucson shooting: poll

More than three-quarters of Americans, including 71 percent of Republicans, approved of President Barack Obama’s handling of the country in the wake of the massacre in Tucson, according to a new poll released Monday.

The ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 78 percent of Americans approved of Obama’s response to the tragedy, while 13 percent disapproved.

Obama generally received high marks from members of both parties for his speech at last week’s memorial service for the victims of the shooting, held at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Six people were killed and 14 wounded on Jan. 8 when a political event by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was targeted by a gunman. The alleged gunman, Jared Lee Loughner, 22, was denied bail last week after making his first appearance in a federal court in Phoenix. He faces two charges of murder and and three charges of attempted murder over the shooting spree.

In his speech, Obama called for America to come together and live up to the potential of the shooting’s youngest victim, nine-year old Christina Taylor Green.

Meanwhile, the poll found that only 30 percent of Americans approved of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s response to the tragedy while 46 percent disapproved of her response.

In the aftermath of the shooting, Palin was criticized for a 2010 election ad by her political action committee that put a “crosshairs” over several Democratic districts, including Gifford’s, leading some to question whether heated public discourse had caused the violence.

In a video posting, Palin rejected criticism that violent political rhetoric played a role in the attempted assassination of Giffords, saying “irresponsible” news pundits were creating a “blood libel” that risked further violence.

While most Americans rejected the idea that Palin’s rhetoric was a factor in the shooting, her use of the term “blood libel” in her video defense fueled further controversy.

Palin was due to respond to the resulting media firestorm on Monday night’s Hannity program on Fox News Channel.

The nationwide ABC News/Washington Post survey of 1,053 adults was conducted by telephone Jan. 13-16.