Public Opinion Shows A Stark Split On The January 6 Insurrection
"Finally, Democrats and Republicans place very different levels of existential importance on the events of January 6th," report says
The nation will soon mark the first anniversary of the deadly insurrection on January 6, in which mobs of extremist supporters of Donald Trump's stormed the US Capitol Building in an attempt to overturn the lawful and legitimate certification of Joe Biden as the next president of the United States.
But Americans will do so just as divided on the Capitol riot as they appear to be on nearly everything else in American life today.
A new report analyzing public opinion on the siege — which left several individuals dead and many others injured — sheds light on the stark divide which has emerged on how different Americans have come to view the day that throngs desecrated the halls of Congress.
“Findings from all relevant polling on January 6th paint a picture of a split public. There are huge partisan divides with regards to most aspects of January 6th,” said a summary of the report, which was prepared by Public Wise, a pro-democracy organization based in New York City. “There is generally majority support for accountability, but this seems to be driven primarily by very high support among Democrats, generally low support among Republicans, and mixed support among Independents, which averages to small majorities in favor of accountability.”
There is also a divide in how the events are labeled and interpreted, according to the Public Wise analysis.
“Democrats appear to be more comfortable with words like insurrection and coup,” the summary said. “When we do not separate by party identification, the most popular characterization for January 6th is to call it a riot. Even when respondents are willing to label the events from that day treason or insurrection, there seems to be some discomfort labeling participants traitors or insurrectionists.”
Democrats and Republicans view the importance of the insurrection very differently, as well.
“Finally, Democrats and Republicans place very different levels of existential importance on the events of January 6th. Democrats are more likely to say that what happened on January 6th changed their view of the world, and they are more likely to say more attention needs to be paid to it, accountability should be had for it, and the events should be remembered in American history,” the summary said.
“Republicans are more likely to say too much attention has been paid, it is not important to remember, too much is already known, and people do not need to be held accountable,” it added. “This implies two groups with very different understandings of the implications of the events as they relate to American democracy. Meanwhile, Independents are in the middle, relatively divided among themselves on most questions. In this respect, Independents are better examined via their reported ideology than their party ID, or lack thereof.”
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