Topline
Nearly half of Americans think former president Donald Trump should face criminal charges for his role in the January 6 riot, according to a new AP-NORC poll, highlighting the likely impact of the televised House committee hearings that have included explosive testimonies from several former White House and election officials, aides and others close to the former president.
Nearly half of Americans believe former President Donald Trump should face criminal charges for his … [+]
Key Facts
According to the poll, 48% of Americans are in favor of criminal charges against Trump, with 31% disagreeing and 20% having no opinion on the issue.
A majority of Americans (58%) believe the former president “bears a great deal or quite a bit of responsibility” for the events that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
Some 86% of Democrats and only 10% of Republicans support charges against him, indicating a split on party lines.
The polls were conducted after the first five hearings of the house January 6 committee were televised.
The hearings also appear to have impacted public opinion on Republicans in Congress with 46% now saying they were “significantly responsible” for the incident—up from 41% in December—and 21% saying they bear some responsibility.
The poll also found that 56% of Americans have followed news coverage of the hearings while fewer(42%) have actually watched or listened to them.
Big Number
27%. That is the percentage of Republicans who say they have watched the televised hearings, with 42% saying they have followed news coverage of it, according to the poll. On Wednesday, AP reported that Fox News has seen a slump in daytime viewership whenever it has broadcast the hearings.
Key Background
On Wednesday, a poll conducted by Morning Consult after the first five hearings found that 65% of voters believe Trump tried to overturn the election and 66% of that cohort believes he should be criminally prosecuted for it. In total, 49% of voters believe Trump’s efforts to overturn the election constituted a crime, the poll found. Both the AP-NORC and Morning Consult polls were conducted before former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s explosive testimony on Tuesday. Hutchinson, who served as a senior aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, testified Trump tried to forcibly grab the steering wheel of the presidential limo and lunged at a secret service agent on the day of the riots after being told he could not be taken to the Capitol over security concerns. Hutchinson also alleged that Trump ordered his staffers to remove metal detectors so he could greet his armed supporters, adding they were “not there to hurt me.”
Further Reading
About half say Trump should be charged for 1/6: AP-NORC poll (Associated Press)
Two-Thirds Of Voters Think Trump Tried Changing Election Outcome, Poll Finds (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/06/30/nearly-half-of-americans-think-trump-should-face-criminal-charges-for-capitol-riot-poll-finds/