Fox News poll: National leadership -- Is this the best we can do?

Really?  This is the best we can do?

That’s how Americans feel about the country’s political leaders, according to a just-released Fox News poll.

Fully 71 percent of voters wonder if America’s political class is comprised of the best people we can find to lead our country.  That’s more than three times as many as feel “confident and proud of the people serving” (23 percent).

Large majorities of Republicans (85 percent) and independents (77 percent) along with over half of Democrats (56 percent) doubt that current leaders are the cream of the crop.

Voters under the age of 30 are more inclined to feel confident and proud (31 percent) than those over the age of 65 (22 percent).

Even among voters who say they have trust and confidence in the federal government, 52 percent wonder if these leaders are the best the country has.

Thirty-seven percent of voters have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust and confidence in the federal government.  Most feel negatively: 41 percent have “not that much” trust and confidence and 22 percent have “none at all.”

Most voters want Congress to continue to investigate the IRS targeting of conservative groups (78 percent), the Justice Department monitoring of journalists (76 percent) and the Obama administration handling of the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi (73 percent).

Not that voters hold Congress itself in such high esteem:  60 percent disapprove of the job Democrats in Congress are doing, while even more, 67 percent, disapprove of Congressional Republicans.

The president’s approval rating is under water, too -- and at its lowest point in more than a year: 44 percent of voters approve of the job Barack Obama is doing, while 50 percent disapprove.  Last month 45 percent approved and 51 percent disapproved.  In January, well before the recent scandals broke, the president’s job rating was split 47-47 percent.

Meanwhile, 29 percent of voters approve of the job Eric Holder is doing as attorney general, while 40 percent disapprove and 31 percent have no opinion.

By a 52-34 percent margin, voters think Holder should resign because of his involvement in multiple government scandals.  A third of Democrats (33 percent), half of independents (50 percent) and most Republicans (74 percent) think Holder should step down.

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,019 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from June 9 to June 11.  The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.