Americans trust Comey more than Trump: Poll

Reuters

A combination of file photos show U.S. President Donald Trump in the White House in Washington, DC, U.S. April 9, 2018 and former FBI Director James Comey on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 8, 2017.

Americans may not like former FBI Director James Comey, but they believe his account of events more than President Donald Trump’s, according to a poll conducted by Quinnipiac University.

The poll found that while 41 percent of respondents had an unfavorable opinion of the ousted official, 54 percent said they trust Comey more to tell the truth than the president. (Thirty percent said they had a favorable view of Comey, while 25 percent said they have not heard enough about him.)

Responses fell mostly along party lines. Seventy-six percent of Republicans said they trusted Trump more versus the 90 percent of Democrats who said they trusted Comey more.

But independents sided with Comey. Fifty-nine percent of those respondents said they trusted him more than Trump.

The poll said white men and white voters without a college degree also believed the president more, although by a slimmer margin than compared with Republicans. About 47 percent of both groups said they trusted Trump more.

The vast majority of respondents — 74 percent — said that Trump should not fire special counsel Robert Mueller. The poll also found that 53 percent of respondents believe the Russian government has compromising information on the president.

The poll was conducted between April 20 and 24 and surveyed 1,193 voters nationwide over the phone. It carries a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.