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January 1, 50% of U.S. Voters Say Capitol Riot Was a ‘Threat to Democracy’

Published

3 years ago

January 4, 2022

As the U.S. approaches the one-year anniversary of the January 6 Capitol Riot, half of Americans say the incident was a threat to democracy, with most Democrats believing it was a conspiracy involving Republican officials.

In a new Rasmussen Reports survey, 50% of respondents think the riot “represented a threat to American democracy,” while 41% said it was not.

Data shows the majority of voters think participants should face charges. Rasmussen found that 63% of respondents believe it’s somewhat important to very important that participants are prosecuted.

When asked if they believed the events of January 6 were a conspiracy involving GOP officials, including former President Donald Trump, 43% said no, while 35% said yes.

According to the pollster’s analysis:

Beliefs about the fairness of the 2020 election clearly correlate with attitudes toward the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Among voters who think Biden won the election fairly, 84% believe the Capitol riot was a threat to American democracy. By contrast, among voters who don’t believe Biden was fairly elected, 82% don’t think the Jan. 6 riot represented a threat to democracy.

Similarly, among voters who don’t think Biden won the election fairly, only 22% believe it is important that the Capitol rioters be prosecuted, but among voters who think Biden was fairly elected, 93% believe it is important to prosecute those arrested for the Jan. 6 riot.