Almost Half of US Citizens Feel Comey's Dismissal Linked to "Russia Probe"

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Comey's Tuesday dismissal came amid the ongoing probe into alleged Russian interfering with the US presidential election, repeatedly denied by Moscow.

According to a Survey Monkey poll prepared for the NBC News broadcaster and published on Thursday, 38 percent of respondents supported Trump's decision to fire Comey, while 54 percent considered the move inappropriate despite 44 percent either somewhat or strongly disapproving of the job he did as FBI director.

The poll's results showed that 22 percent of respondents considered the handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails the reason for Comey's dismissal, making this the second most popular opinion among US citizens.

Fifty-four percent of the respondents believe that the alleged improper contacts between Trump campaign members and Russian authorities are a "serious issue," while 40 percent think they are "more of a distraction."

Comey sent a letter to the US Congress in late October, just days before the election, notifying it of the existence of emails that could be connected to the probe into Clinton's use of private email server as secretary of state in contravention of security recommendations.

According to the FiveThirtyEight website, which specializes in opinion poll analysis, the letter, while not the only factor that lead to Clinton's loss in the election, significantly contributed to her defeat, possibly costing her somewhere between 1 and 4 percentage points in some key swing states.