Poll: Just 29% of Americans approve of Trump’s decision to fire Comey

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Former FBI Director James Comey.

A poll released on Sunday showed how few people support President Donald Trump’s decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey, while also acknowledging the extent to which many Americans have no opinion about the decision at all.

A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that just 29% of Americans approve of Trump’s decision to fire Comey, compared to 38% who disapprove. Thirty two percent of survey respondents said they had no opinion of Trump’s decision to fire America’s chief law enforcement officer.

Trump’s popularity didn’t seem to take a significant hit from the Comey investigation — it dropped one point from last month’s NBC/WSJ survey to 39% support. And while 61% of respondents said Trump’s decision did not change their opinion of the president, 30% of respondents said they had a less favorable impression of Trump now, versus just 6% who said they had a more favorable view.

Unsurprisingly, support and opposition to the decision has largely split down partisan lines.

A Morning Consult/Politico poll conducted last week found that 62% of Republicans and just 16% of Democrats thought Trump was right to fire Comey, while 58% of Republicans and just 9% of Democrats told NBC they approved of Trump’s decision.

But in a poll conducted last month, Republicans were far more opposed to hypothetically removing Comey, while Democrats were slightly more open to the possibility. The April poll found that 31% of Republican voters supported Comey losing his job, compared to 22% of Democrats.

Still, the Politico poll found that respondents were more likely to say Trump’s decision was inappropriate after they were informed that the FBI is actively investigating Russia for interfering in the 2016 election, and whether the Trump campaign colluded with Kremlin officials.