A NBC News/Walls Street Journal poll released Sunday found nearly two in five U.S. adults disapprove of President Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey last Tuesday.
The results of the May 11-13 poll showed 38 percent of Americans are unhappy with the decision while 29 percent support the move. The remaining one-third did not have an opinion on the matter.
The survey also found Trump’s approval rate was not significantly affected by the abrupt termination of Comey. Trump’s approval fell one point from last month to 39 percent in May.
More than three-quarters of Americans want an independent commission or special prosecutor to look into any connection between Trump’s campaign and Russia despite no evidence of such collusion thus far.
Two polls released Thursday offered contrasting conclusions of how Americans view Comey’s departure.
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 opinions 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 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 NBC/WSJ poll was taken by phone with 800 adults and had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. 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.
