WASHINGTON (CNN) -- About half of Americans believe the scandal over former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley's contacts with teenage congressional pages should cost House Speaker Dennis Hastert his leadership post, according to a CNN poll released Monday.

The poll, conducted Friday through Sunday by Opinion Research Corp., found that 52 percent of the 1,028 adults interviewed think Hastert should step aside. Thirty-one percent said they think he should keep his post, and 17 percent had no opinion.

The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points. (Full poll results)

The poll also found that Americans are generally dissatisfied with how the GOP handled the Foley matter. Seventeen percent of those polled said it was handled appropriately, while 75 percent said Republicans took inappropriate steps.

Fifty-two percent also said they believe the GOP leadership didn't investigate the charges earlier because they were deliberately covering the scandal up. Thirty-eight percent said they thought the leadership was unaware of how serious the allegations were.