National poll finds growing belief 'it is time to move on' from Jan. 6
A growing number of people believe it is time for the country to "move on" from the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to the findings of a new national poll. Meanwhile, more than half of those polled believe former President Donald Trump should be charged with a crime.
Poll organizers at UMass Amherst have asked in four national surveys whether individuals believe the nation needs to learn more about Jan. 6 or whether it was time to move forward. The ratio of those who believe it is time to move on has grown from 44% in Dec. 2021 to 50% in the most recent edition.
The UMass Amherst poll is based on responses from 1,000 people who were surveyed between Jan. 5 and Jan. 9, a timeframe overlapping with the second anniversary of the incident. Pollsters report the margin of error is 3.55%.
While the poll found that half of respondents continue to believe the nation should learn more about what happened, less than half of those polled expressed approval for the work of the congressional committee that investigated the incident.
The nine-member committee issued its final report in late December, before the conclusion of the last Congress, and referred Trump to the Justice Department on four criminal charges.
Poll organizers found a slight difference in the public approval for the committee's work based on how they asked the question. However, that difference was within the margin of error.
Roughly half of those polled were asked about the "House Select Committee on the January 6th Attack on the Capitol" and of those respondents, 39% said they either strongly or somewhat approved. The other half of the group was asked about the "Bipartisan House Select Committee on the January 6th Attack on the Capitol" and in that group, the rate of those who strongly or somewhat approved was 41%.
The committee consisted of seven Democrats and two Republicans, all of whom were appointed by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. GOP members who were originally selected for the panel by then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy were rejected by Pelosi.
For the third time, the UMass Amherst polling asked respondents to pick from a list of words describing the events of Jan. 6, and for a third time the majority selected the word "riot." To describe the insurrectionists, the most-selected word was "rioter."
When asked who they hold most responsible for that riot, for the third consecutive time former President Donald Trump was selected by the largest number of respondents. In the latest results, 44% said he was most responsible.
"Did the House Select Committee change minds about who was responsible for Jan. 6, or simply remind people of what they felt at the outset? It's not clear from our survey," Raymond La Raja, professor of political science at UMass Amherst and co-director of the poll, said. "In more than a year and a half there’s been no change in the percentage of voters who hold Trump responsible for the insurrection – even with the exposure of his actions by Congress and the Department of Justice."
Still, the poll found that more than half of those polled believe Trump should definitely or probably be charged with a crime.
"Not only do Americans view Trump as responsible," said Tatishe Nteta, provost professor of political science at UMass Amherst and director of the poll, "but a majority (53%) support the former president being charged with a crime for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election."
"While there is disagreement among Americans about whether Trump should be charged, it is not the case that Americans are equally divided on the issue. Rather, a majority of Americans supports prosecution; a vocal minority – roughly a third – opposes it; and a small fraction is unsure," said Jesse Rhodes, professor of political science at UMass Amherst and co-director of the poll.