Americans Are Further Souring on AG Garland

Katie Pavlich | August 17, 2022 8:30 AM

After "personally approving" the raid on President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home, Americans are further souring on Attorney General Merrick Garland.

According to a new survey from Rasmussen Reports, Garland's approval is sitting in the 30s.

"More voters still have a negative perception of Attorney General Merrick Garland than view him favorably, and don't think he's doing a better job than his predecessors," Rasmussen found. "A new national telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports finds that 36% of Likely U.S. voters have a favorable impression of Garland, including 22% who have a Very Favorable view of him. That's up from 30% who viewed Garland favorably in October. However, 42% now view Garland unfavorably – up from 39% in October – including 32% who have a Very Unfavorable impression of the attorney general. Another 21% are not sure."

Earlier this year, Garland, under direction from the Biden White House, classified parents attending school board meetings as domestic terrorists. He doubled down on the classification during a hearing in the Senate.

Testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday morning, Attorney General Merrick Garland refused to retract a memo, prompted by a complaint from the National School Boards Association, to target concerned parents with federal law enforcement.
Late last week the NSBA apologized for the letter, where parents were classified as domestic terrorists worthy of Patriot Act scrutiny, that prompted Garland's actions. Regardless, DOJ will move forward.
In a number of exchanges with Republican Senators, Garland refused to condemn the use of federal law enforcement and argued the Department is simply "combatting violence."