Two new polls released Thursday evening offer contrasting conclusions of how Americans view President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey.
The majority of U.S. adults, 54 percent, said Trump’s unexpected dismissal of Comey was “not appropriate,” while 38 percent believed it was, according to a NBC News/SurveyMonkey survey conducted May 10-11. People’s views of the termination predominantly fell in line with partisan views, with about 80 percent of Democrats opposing the move and the same share of Republicans favoring it.
A separate poll conducted by Morning Consult/Politico found that 37 percent of registered voters deemed the firing “appropriate,” while 34 percent said it was not and 29 percent said they “don’t know.” A little more than three-in-five voters in the Republican and Democratic parties said the move was fitting or inappropriate, respectively.
The variation in views between polls could indicate that registered voters were more accepting of Trump’s decision.
Most adults, 46 percent, in the NBC News survey said Comey was fired in connection with the investigation into any relationship Trump’s campaign had with Russia. Less than one-quarter of adults said Comey was terminated over his mishandling of Hillary Clinton’s email probe and the same amount said it was about “something else.”
Looking to the future, 36 percent of registered voters said they want a special prosecutor to oversee the investigation, while 24 percent said Congress ought to create a bipartisan, independent commission to handle the issue. Another 22 percent believed once the new FBI director is appointed, he or she will be able to properly oversee the matter.
The NBC/SurveyMonkey poll was taken online among 3,746 U.S. adults and had a 2.5 percentage point margin of error. The Morning Consult/Politico survey was conducted online May 9-11 with 1,731 registered voters and had a 2 percentage point margin of error.
