WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Since the deadly January 6 insurgency at the U.S. Capitol, former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have pushed false and misleading accounts to minimize the event that killed five people and piled up. wounded. His supporters seem to have listened.
Three months after a crowd of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to try to undo the loss of the November election, about half of Republicans believe the siege was largely a nonviolent protest or was the work of left-wing activists “who were trying to make Trump look bad,” a new Reuters / Ipsos poll found.
Six out of ten Republicans also believe Trump’s false claim that he was “robbed” of the November presidential election due to widespread voter fraud, and the same proportion of Republicans believe he should run again. in 2024, according to the March 30-31 survey. .
Since the Capitol attack, Trump, many of his Republican Party allies and right-wing media personalities have publicly painted a picture of the day’s events contrary to reality.
Hundreds of Trump supporters, mobilized by the former president’s false claims about a stolen election, climbed the walls of the Capitol building and smashed windows to gain access, while lawmakers voted to certify President Joe’s election victory Biden. Riot police, many of them with Trump campaign equipment and waving flags, also included white supremacist groups known as the Proud Boys.
In a recent interview with Fox News, Trump said the riots posed “a zero threat.” Other prominent Republicans, such as Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, have publicly doubted whether Trump supporters were behind the riot.
Last month, 12 House Republicans voted against a resolution honoring Capitol police officers who defended the grounds during the disaster, and a lawmaker said he was opposed to using the word “Insurrection” to describe the incident.
The Reuters / Ipsos poll shows a large number of grassroots Republicans who have adopted the myth. While 59% of all Americans say Trump has some responsibility for the attack, only three in ten Republicans agree. Eight out of ten Democrats and six out of ten independents reject the false claims that the siege of the Capitol was “mostly peaceful” or was organized by left-wing protesters.
“Republicans have their own version of reality,” said John Geer, a public opinion expert at Vanderbilt University. “It simply came to our notice then. Democracy requires accountability and accountability requires proof. ”
The refusal of Trump and prominent Republicans to repudiate the January 6 events increases the likelihood of a similar incident happening again, said Susan Corke, director of the Southern Law Poverty Law Center Intelligence Project, which a follow-up of hate groups.
“That’s the biggest danger: normalizing that behavior,” Corke said. “I think we’ll see more violence.”
In a new reminder of security threats facing the U.S. Capitol since Jan. 6, a motorist attacked a car against U.S. Capitol police Friday and brandished a knife, killing an officer and injuring him. another and forcing the closure of the Capitol complex. Officers shot and killed the suspect.
Allie Carroll, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said its members condemned the Capitol attack and referred to a Jan. 13 statement by President Ronna McDaniel. “Violence has no place in our politics … Those who participated in the assault on the Capitol of our nation and those who continue to threaten violence should be found, held accountable and prosecuted to the extent of the law,” said McDaniel.
A Trump representative did not respond to requests for comment.
“DANGEROUS TURN ON REALITY”
The disinformation campaign aimed at minimizing the insurgency and Trump’s role in it reflects a growing consensus within the Republican Party that his fortunes remain tied to Trump and his devout base, according to political observers.
According to the new Reuters / Ipsos poll, Trump remains the party’s most popular figure, with eight out of ten Republicans still having a favorable impression of him.
“Republicans in Congress have assessed that they need to maximize Trump’s vote to win,” said Tim Miller, a spokesman for Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush. “That this is the path to the majority.”
Republicans in Congress show few signs of breaking with Trump. Just after the deadly siege of the Capitol, 147 Republican lawmakers voted against certifying Biden’s electoral victory. The Democratic-led House of Representatives accused Trump of “inciting insurgency,” making him the only U.S. president to be indicted twice, but most Senate Republicans acquitted him of the accusation in a trial.
Last week, Indiana Republican lawmaker Jim Banks said the party should serve working-class voters who form Trump’s political base before the midterm elections that will dictate control of Congress. next year.
“Members who want to change working-class voters because they are bothered by President Trump’s impact … are wrong,” Banks wrote in a note to Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy, whose content he posted on Twitter .
Banks was one of 147 lawmakers who voted to block certification of Biden’s victory and later voted against ousting Trump. Banks did not respond to requests for comment.
Some conventional Republicans argue that after Republicans lose the White House and control of both houses of Congress under Trump’s surveillance, the party should move from the former president to attract suburban, moderate, and independent voters.
In the latest Reuters / Ipsos poll, only about three in ten independents said they had a favorable view of Trump, among the lowest levels recorded since his presidency. Most Americans (about 60%) also believe Biden won the November election fair and said Trump should not run again.
Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger, one of Trump’s top Republican critics in Congress, has criticized the push to rewrite the history of the Capitol attack.
The disinformation effort is “such a dangerous and disgusting turn on reality,” Kinzinger wrote in a fundraising appeal to supporters last month, “and what’s worse is that so many in the Republican Party do not question “.
It looks like the window has passed for the Republican party to distance itself from Trump, Trump said.
“There was an opportunity after Jan. 6 for Republican leaders to step down and say,‘ We can’t be the insurrectionist party, ’” he said. “Now that opportunity is gone.”
The Reuters / Ipsos survey was conducted online, in English, across the United States. It collected responses from 1,005 adults between March 30 and 31. The survey has a credibility range, a measure of accuracy, of about 4 percentage points.
Edited by Soyoung Kim and Alistair Bell