Fewer Republicans say Trump bears responsibility for Jan. 6: Poll

by Sarah Fortinsky - 01/02/24 8:25 AM ET

Fewer Republicans say former President Trump bears responsibility for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol — nearly three years after the insurrection, according to a new survey.

The Washington Post/University of Maryland (Post-UMD) poll, published Tuesday, follows up on a similar poll conducted in December 2021. When asked about various aspects of the riots, Americans are less inclined to blame Trump for the attack — a change that appears to be driven mostly by Republicans but extends across party lines.

Just more than 50 percent of U.S. adults overall said the former president bears either “a great deal” or “a good amount” of responsibility for the Jan. 6 attack, according to the survey. In December 2021, 60 percent said the same.

Among Republicans, 14 percent now say Trump bears responsibility, down from 27 percent in 2021, according to the WaPo-UMD survey. Among Democrats, 86 percent said the same, down from 92 percent in 2021.

Independents, however, remain largely unchanged. Around 56 percent of respondents blamed the former president “a great deal” or “a good amount” for the insurrection, down only 1 point from 57 percent in December 2021.

The poll comes as Trump is facing two criminal indictments related to his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. One brought by special counsel Jack Smith related to the Jan. 6 riots, and another in Georgia brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on charges related to violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

Despite his legal woes, Trump remains the GOP front-runner in the 2024 presidential primary race.

In Decision Desk HQ’s latest national polling average, Trump leads the primary pack with an average of 63.1 percent of support among GOP voters. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley follows with 10.8 percent support, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is close behind with 10.6 percent support.

The Iowa caucuses take place in less than two weeks, on Jan. 15, marking the first primary contest of the presidential campaign cycle.

The Post-UMD survey was conducted between Dec. 14-18 among 1,024 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points, with error margins higher among subgroups.