Poll: Public’s opinion of Comey unchanged after book’s release

The American public’s perception of former FBI Director James Comey has not changed since the release of his book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership,” according to an Axios poll released Tuesday.

The Axios/SurveyMonkey poll finds that Comey’s unfavorable rating sits at 36 percent, unchanged from that poll’s December results.

His favorability rating has ticked up one percentage point, while those who say they “don’t know enough” about the fired FBI chief to have an opinion decreased by the same amount.

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President Trump fired Comey last year, telling NBC’s Lester Holt at the time that the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election was foremost on his mind when he made the decision.

Americans are almost evenly divided over who they trust more between the president or Comey.

Thirty-five percent of Americans say they believe Comey over Trump, compared to 32 percent who said the opposite. The divide is sharp along partisan lines, with 67 percent of Democrats picking Comey over Trump and 70 percent of Republicans saying the opposite.

One in four Americans said they don’t believe either man and remain distrustful of both parties.

Comey faces an uphill battle over the perception of his book, however.

More Americans say that the former FBI director is more interested in promoting himself and his book (56 percent) than telling the truth about the Trump administration (38 percent.)

The Axios/SurveyMonkey poll contacted 2,503 adults in the U.S. between April 17 and 19. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.