Voters in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s home district of Maricopa County are unhappy with his most recent headline-grabbing mission: Investigating the authenticity of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate.
A poll released Thursday shows that 65 percent of Maricopa County voters disapprove of Arpaio’s investigation. At the same, time, though, 76 percent approve of his “tough on crime” stance and his total favorability hovers around 53 percent. The poll, conducted by Strategies 360, assessed responses from 600 likely voters in the Arizona county and it has a 4.4 percent margin of error.
Arpaio, who is currently being sued by the Justice Department for alleged civil rights abuses, said last month that the evidence from the birth certificate investigation shows that it is a fraud. Arpaio formed a so-called “posse” to look into the issue. Obama released his full birth certificate to the public last year to disprove conspiracy theories that he was not born in Hawaii, but his disclosure has not put the issue to rest.
Voters were evenly split on questions of Arpaio’s handling of taxpayer dollars and on whether he is “too extreme” in his law enforcement position.
