Roughly two in 10 Americans support former Fox News host Pete Hegseth as President-elect Trump's nominee for secretary of defense, according to a new poll.
In an Associated Press/NORC Research Center poll, 19% of respondents said they “strongly support'' or “somewhat support'' President Trump's selection of Mr. Hegseth. 35% responded that they “strongly disagree'' or “somewhat disagree'' with this choice.
At Tuesday's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Hegseth faced intense questioning from the committee's Democratic members, and his past, which Hegseth denies, includes sexual misconduct, excessive drinking and financial mismanagement. Suspicions were raised and a heated exchange ensued.
In contrast to Democrats, Republicans on the Armed Services Committee defended Hegseth's character and ability to lead the Pentagon.
The AP-NORC poll found that 23% of respondents said it was “very good” or “somewhat good” for people with “no government background” to be relied on by the president for “advice on government policy.” answered. In the poll, 49% of respondents said it was “very bad” or “somewhat bad” that people without government backgrounds were relied on by the president to provide government policy advice.
The AP-NORC poll was conducted Jan. 9-13 among 1,147 people and had a sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
