WASHINGTON, June 28 (UPI) -- Most American approve of President Obama's decision to fire Gen. Stanley McChrystal as commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, a poll indicates.
People who reported they followed the events "very" or "somewhat closely" approved of the president's decision by an almost 2-to-1 margin, a Gallup poll released Monday showed.
The poll was conducted June 25-26, after Obama relieved McChrystal of his duties following a Rolling Stone magazine article in which the general and his aides were quoted making disparaging remarks about members of the administration.
Sixty-eight percent of those polled said they thought Obama's decision was the proper way to deal with the situation, although a quarter of those respondents believed a lesser punishment could have been a better course of action, the poll said.
The poll did reveal partisan differences.
Seventy-four percent of Democrats approve of McChrystal's removal, compared with 49 percent of independents and 34 percent of Republicans, the poll showed.
The margin of error in the telephone poll was plus or minus 4 percentage points, Gallup said.
