Nearly half of Americans believe the U.S. Capitol protestors on January 6, 2021, had a point. According to a new Suffolk University/USA Today poll, a combined total of 43% of registered voters agreed that Capitol protestors “had a point,” with 37% of respondents adding that the protestors “went too far.”
Suffolk’s analysis of the data said “sympathy” had increased for the protestors, noting, “Only 48% of voters overall said they thought the rioters were ‘criminals,’ a significant drop from the 70% of voters who thought so in a Suffolk survey conducted just weeks after [January 6].” Suffolk added, “Those who agreed that ‘they went too far, but they had a point’ rose to 37% from 24%, and 6% called their actions ‘appropriate,’ when in 2021 just 2% did.”
Additionally, nearly a third (32%) of respondents stated that the criminal charges leveled against over 700 protestors are “inappropriate and should be reversed.” Over 1,200 protestors have been charged for their participation in the events at the Capitol, with over 745 defendants having been sentenced already. Republicans have been critical of the Biden administration’s treatment of protestors. After visiting a prison where protestors were held in custody, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) called the protestors “political prisoners of war” and attested that their treatment was “abuse.” Greene also explained that prisoners are being kept in solitary confinement, asserting:
“They have been beaten by the guards [and] they are called white supremacist. They are denied religious services, haircuts, shaving, the ability to trim their fingernails. There’s more outrageous things happening there. They’re denied time with their attorneys. They are denied the ability to even see their families and have their families visit there. They are denied bail and being held there without bail.”
In November, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) made public hundreds of hours of previously-unreleased video footage of the January 6 Capitol events, which included footage of police officers opening doors for protestors and guiding them down hallways. A Washington Post/University of Maryland poll released earlier this week showed that a quarter of American adults believe the FBI was involved in either instigating or organizing the breach of the Capitol building, including 13% of Democrats.
The Suffolk University/USA Today poll also reported that less than half (43%) of Americans are confident “that the results of the 2024 election will be accurately counted and reported,” while 27% are “not confident.” Additionally, 31% of respondents stated that Joe Biden was not legitimately elected president in 2020. This follows a report that one in five mail-in voters admitted to committing fraud in the 2020 election, as well as numerous reports on the federal government skirting the Constitution to censor Americans’ political speech.
S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.
