POUGHKEEPSIE – A NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll conducted recently says that nearly one year after protesters entered the U.S. Capitol and disrupted the certification of the 2020 presidential election, many Americans think the investigation into the storming is appropriate.
More than six in 10 Americans, 62 percent, think the investigation into the day’s events is appropriate and not a witch hunt while 35 percent of those polled do not agree with the inquiry. However, not all Americans are ready to call what happened on January 6, 2021, an “insurrection.” Deep partisan divisions continue to underscore impressions of what happened at the U.S. Capitol on that day.
Forty-nine percent of Americans consider the events of January 6, 2021, to be an insurrection and a threat to U.S. democracy. Twenty-five percent of those polled believe it was a political protest protected under the First Amendment, while 19 percent say the incident was unfortunate but does not have implications for the future.
“Both Democrats and Republicans believe that U.S. democracy is under threat,” says Dr. Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion in Poughkeepsie. “But they overwhelmingly disagree over the meaning of the events of January 6th and the motivation behind the investigation into the events of that day.”
The full breakdown of the NPR/NewsHour/Marist National Poll can be found by clicking HERE.
