More than 1 in 4 Republicans approve of Jan. 6 rioters: poll

More than 1 in 4 Republicans now say that they approve of Trump supporters taking over the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks, a new poll found.

A Economist-YouGov poll published on Wednesday found that 27 percent of Republicans strongly or somewhat approve of the rioters’ attempts on Jan. 6, 2021, to stop Congressional proceedings. The poll results also showed that 19 percent of Democrats also strongly or somewhat approved of the riot on the Capitol.

The poll also found that 52 percent of Republicans somewhat or strongly disapproved of the Jan. 6 rioters, compared to 76 percent of Democrats. Twenty percent of Republicans said that they were not sure whether they approved of the supporters, while 5 percent of Democrats said that they were not sure.

When asked what best describes their view on what happened during insurrection, 54 percent of Republicans said “people participated in a legitimate public discourse.” Just 27 percent of Republicans selected the second option that said “people participated in a violent insurrection,” while 20 percent said that they did not know.

Twenty-one percent of Democrats responded with “people participated in a legitimate public discourse” when asked the same question. The poll found that 71 percent described it as a “violent insurrection” while eight percent said that they did not know.

When asked how much responsibility does former President Trump bear for the Jan. 6 riot, 43 percent of Republicans said that he had no responsibility for the takeover. Ten percent of Republicans said that he had “a lot” of responsibility, 19 percent said he had “some” and 20 percent said he had “a little.”

Across the aisle, 3 percent of Democrats said that Trump had no responsibility for the takeover. More than 60 percent said that he had “a lot” of responsibility for the attacks, 16 percent said he had “some” and 12 percent said he had “a little.”

The poll was conducted from March 11 to 14 among 1,500 adult citizens. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.2 percent.