Nearly Half Of Pennsylvania Voters Want Kathleen Kane To Resign

Almost half of Pennsylvania voters want Kathleen Kane, the state's embattled Democratic attorney general, to step down, according to a Quinnipiac University poll  released Tuesday.

Forty-nine percent said Kane, who is facing criminal charges relating to allegations she leaked information about a rival , should resign. Twenty-seven percent said she should remain in her position, while 24 percent weren't sure.

Opinions of Kane's job performance are even more negative, with 54 percent of voters, including 47 percent of Democrats , disapproving of the way she has handled her work.

Several of the state's top Democrats, including Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf,  have called on Kane to step down , and a sizable fraction of voters in her party agree, with 39 percent calling for her to resign and 37 percent saying she shouldn't step down. Republicans are more united, with 60 percent saying she should leave her post.

Kane was arraigned this month  on charges that she leaked documents to embarrass a rival and later lied about doing so . In a preliminary court hearing on Monday, a judge ruled  that the case against her had enough evidence to go to trial.

Quinnipiac surveyed 1,085 registered Pennsylvania voters from Aug. 7 to 18, using live interviewers to reach both landlines and cell phones.