Was former president Donald Trump responsible for his supporters’ violent Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol? A year after the deadly riot, a new study says Americans are increasingly blaming Trump less for the riot.
Pew Research Center released a new study on Tuesday that shows over the past year from January 2021 to January 2022, the proportion of Americans who believe that Trump held zero responsibility grew from 24 percent to 32 percent.
The proportion believing he holds “some” responsibility grew as well, from 23 percent to 24 percent. The proportion that believes he holds “a lot” of responsibility decreased from 52 percent to 43 percent.
The study also revealed a sharp partisan divide over almost every aspect of the Jan. 6 riot. Sixty five percent of Republicans and Independents leaning Republican say that too much attention has been paid to the insurrection. This is compared to 11 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents.
Public opinion on the ongoing House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack were also partisan. Only 21 percent of Republicans and those right-of-center have confidence that the committee will investigate the riot fairly and reasonably. This is compared with 65 percent of Democrats and those left-of-center.
The hardcore Trump supporters who still believe Trump won the election have particularly extreme beliefs on the riot. The republicans that believe Trump was definitely the real winner of the 2020 election — which has been continuously proven to be false — were on the far end of the spectrum when it came to weighing in on the aforementioned issues.
Of these staunch supporters, 82 percent say he had no responsibility for Jan. 6, 87 percent said too much attention is being paid to it, and 71 percent said they were “not at all”confident in the committee’s investigation.
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