01/02/2024

Poll Finds Republican Loyalty to Trump, Rioters Climbs in Three Years After Jan. 6 Attack

His popularity has grown among many in the GOP

Three years after the Jan. 6 attack, Republicans are more sympathetic to those who stormed the U.S. Capitol and more likely to absolve Donald Trump of responsibility for the attack than they were in 2021, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll.

Republicans are showing increased loyalty to the former president as he campaigns for re-election and fights criminal charges over his attempt to stay in power after losing in 2020. They are now less likely to believe that Jan. 6 participants were "mostly violent," less likely to believe Trump bears responsibility for the attack and are slightly less likely to view Joe Biden's election as legitimate than they were in a December 2021 Post-UMD survey.

In follow-up interviews, some said their views have changed because they now believe the riot was instigated by law enforcement to suppress political dissent — a baseless conspiracy theory that has been promoted heavily in right-wing media and by Trump in his speeches and in his legal fight against the four-count federal indictment he faces in D.C.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.