Poll: 73 Percent of Republicans Blame 'Left-Wing Protesters' for Jan. 6

A new poll reveals that 73% of Republicans pin either “some” or a “great deal” of the responsibility for the Jan. 6 incidents at the Capitol on “left-wing protesters” who were trying to make then-President Donald Trump “look bad.”

The Yahoo News/YouGov poll of 1,588 adults in the United States, conducted from May 25-26, also found 41% of the Republicans surveyed said Trump supporters that were at the Capitol for a rally that day while Congress was to vote for the certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College win bore “some” or a “great deal” of the blame for the Capitol attack. 

Further, 23% of those surveyed blamed Trump himself, and 52% said the former president is “not at all” to blame.”

Meanwhile, Democrats had a far different opinion on the Capitol incident:

• 84% blamed Trump supporters, compared to 63% of Americans overall. 
• 83% blamed Trump, compared to 55% of overall Americans.
• 79% blamed Republicans who claim the 2020 election was stolen, compared to 56% of Americans.

The poll was released before Senate Republicans voted 54-35 to block the creation of a bipartisan panel to study the attack on the Capitol, short of reaching the 60 votes needed for the chamber to consider a bill already passed in the House. 

The survey also revealed the changing opinions about the incidents since January.

Weeks after the matter, in late January, nearly 71% of people responding to a Yahoo News and YouGov poll said the Capitol attack was ”not justified”; but now, that number has dropped to 57%. 

In addition:

• 21% now think the incidents were justified, but 22% said they are not sure. 
• 52% of Republicans say the people who participated on Jan. 6 were ”primarily peaceful and law-abiding.
• 51% of Americans overall said the participants were “primarily violent and lawless.”
• 18% of Republicans say Biden ”won the election fair and square.”
• 64% of Republicans say they think the election was ”rigged and stolen from Trump.” 
• 72% of Republicans said they think there was enough fraud in the 2020 election to “influence the outcome.”

The poll also found that 10% of Republicans want to ”hold Trump and others accountable for their role in the attack,” but  62% say ”there have been enough [Jan. 6] investigations already.” Also, 23% of Republicans said they favor forming an independent commission to study Jan. 6.

The survey was conducted by YouGov of a nationally representative sample of 1,588 U.S. adults, weighted according to gender, age, race and education, and had a margin of error of approximately 2.8 percentage points.