A new poll from Navigator Research reveals that a whopping 3 in 4 Americans are so against the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol they think the actors deserve to be prosecuted. This puts some Republicans in Congress in a difficult position.
The survey shows that 61 percent of Republicans and 77 percent of independents agree that those who participated in the violence deserve to be arrested and indicted. These new findings reveal a significant difference between Americans and voters in all parties against elected Republicans.
Reps. Louie Gohmart (R-TX), Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) flocked to the Washington Jail to investigate the conditions of the facility, attempting to create enough of an uprising that the Capitol attackers would be freed from the harsh conditions.
“The silence from the ACLU and Amnesty International is deafening,” Gosar said, calling the Capitol attackers "political prisoners."
Meanwhile, during a discussion about the attack, Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), told the public that the violence they witnessed on their televisions for hours was really nothing more than a "normal tourist visit." Other Republicans have called it largely peaceful.
As it stands, the majority of Democrats (88 percent) and Independents (67 percent) support the probe. Republicans are largely split at 48 percent, but more support the investigation than oppose it.
A whopping 75 percent of television viewers even confessed that they watched the coverage on Jan. 6. Even Fox News Republicans said that they watched the Capitol attack coverage (78 percent). Even OAN and Newsmax viewers watched the coverage (78 and 79 percent respectively).
But the most concerning number for Republicans is that 75 percent of Independents believe that Republican members either assisted or encouraged the organizers. Just shy of 80 percent of Independents also see Republicans as allowing white supremacists to decide the direction of the Republican Party.
There is also 75 percent of Independent voters who agreed to this statement: "Donald Trump encouraged violence, while elected Republicans stood idly by on Jan. 6, against members of Congress and his own Vice President to steal an election that Trump lost. Now, elected Republicans are trying to rig election rules in states across the country to make it easier to successfully steal future elections
That same number also agrees that the Jan. 6 attack "was the beginning of an extended campaign by Donald Trump and elected Republicans to ensure an extremist minority is overrepresented in our democracy to pass laws that ban abortion, give tax breaks to the wealthy and big corporations, and ignore crises like the pandemic and climate change."
A majority of both Democrats and Independents say that they would characterize the Jan. 6 attack as a "riot," "insurrection" or a "terrorist attack."
As the 2022 midterm elections approach, the Jan. 6 commission is desperately working to get to a final report before November. The fear is that Republicans could take over Congress in 2023 and would eliminate the investigation.
A July piece from The Guardian claimed that the GOP efforts to deny the attack were working because "die-hard" Trump supporters believed it was fake or even a "false flag."
“Rightwing media and some Republicans, including Republicans in the Senate and the House, are trying to make it seem as though what was a siege on the Capitol was not actually a siege on the Capitol,” said Fordham University Professor Monika McDermott.
“We all saw it. We saw them breaking down doors. We saw our members of Congress running for cover and trying to get away. We saw Mike Pence being shuttled out of the chamber. All of these frightening things that we saw happen are now being denied or being or being laid at the feet of Antifa or the FBI or some other source, which just seems at this point ludicrous," she explained.
However, this new survey revealed that an overwhelming majority of Americans aren't buying it.
See a slide below and the full slide show here.
