WASHINGTON (AP) – A majority of Americans say former President Donald Trump is at least to blame for the Capitol uprising, and about half say the Senate should vote to convict him at the end of his indictment..
This emerges from a survey by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research it also believes that many Republicans – unlike all evidence – continue to believe that the election of President Joe Biden was illegal.
This is the latest sign that Trump’s month-long disinformation campaign was can Biden have long-term consequences if he tries to rule a broken country and underscores the deeply biased divisions that will exceed Trump’s presidency. But it also shows some consensus, with even many Republicans saying Trump was at least partially responsible for the deadly storm of his supporters on the January 6 Capitol. in an attempt to overturn the results of the November election.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that Trump bears at least a moderate responsibility for the invasion of the U.S. Capitol, including half who say he bears a great deal or a lot. Just over a third say he bears little or no responsibility.
Most Republicans absolve him of guilt, but about 3 in 10 believe he bears at least moderate guilt for the events.
Fewer Americans, 47%, believe the Senate should vote to convict Trump after his indictment, which begins next week. Another 40% say he should not be convicted, and 12% are not sure. Trump last month became the first president in the country’s history to be indicted twice by the House, but it seems unlikely Democrats will have enough votes to convict him in the upper chamber.
Opinions on the trial fall along biased lines, with more than 8 in 10 Democrats saying the Senate should be convicted, compared to only about 1 in 10 Republicans. While those who believe he bears a great responsibility are generally of the opinion that he should be found guilty, the Senate says among those who say he is only moderately responsible, 54% to 19%.
“I think it’s ridiculous. Are we going to start accusing all the former presidents we dislike? Said Bill Stokes, 67, who lives in Casper, Wyoming, and voted for Trump in November, describing him as the “lesser among evils.”
While Stokes allowed Trump ‘perhaps’ to bear some responsibility for the events of January 6, he said:’ I do not think that accuses the accusation. Maybe a censorship, if so. ‘
‘I really do not feel that he has incited a riot. He asked them to go there for a peaceful demonstration. “Maybe he did not understand the mob psychology, but I think his responsibility there – they try to lay more on him than there really is,” he said.
In interviews, other Republican respondents blamed Trump for shutting down the crowd – and some felt he should be held accountable in some way – but did not think accusation was the answer, as Trump already holds office. leaves it. and, they said, it would probably not be re-elected.
At the same time, the poll finds that many Republicans agree with the idea, espoused by those who stormed the Capitol, that Biden’s election was illegal. Overall, 66% of Americans say Biden was legally elected president, but 65% of Republicans say he was not..
These include 71-year-old Dolores Mejia, who lives in Peoria, Arizona, and claims that, if all the votes were counted, “I think Trump would have won, I really believe it.”
Mejia, a lifelong Democrat who changed her party registration in November to vote for Trump, quoted everything from blatant conspiracies to friends’ bills to explain her doubts.
“I do not care what the Democrats say. They stole the election. “There is just no way, with the amount of support we have seen, to watch the marches on TV, things like Truckers for Trump … there is no way that they did not steal the election,” she argued.
Others were more ambivalent. Mark Richardson, a Republican who lives in High Point, North Carolina and has twice voted for Trump, said he understands why measures were taken to agree during the coronavirus pandemic. but argued that they should never be used again.
“It leaves too much room for questions,” he said. But Richardson, 39, who works in the electric vehicle industry, said the question of ‘legitimacy’ was more nuanced.
“So I think it depends on how you ask the question,” he said. ‘I think every vote he got was legal? No. But do I think he’s the president? Yes. ”
“Joe Biden is the president,” he said. “And that’s OK with me.”
GOP officials in several battlefield states that Biden carried, including Arizona and Georgia, said the election was fair. Trump’s claims have been rejected in court, including by judges appointed by Trump and by his former attorney general, William Barr.
Overall, the poll shows that Americans have a more negative view of Trump’s presidency and its impact on the country, but opposition is limited among Republicans. Only 36% of Americans generally say that Trump was a good or even a good president, while 50% said he was a poor or a terrible president.
In contrast, 52% of Americans called him a good or great president at the end of 2016, when Barack Obama left office, while 28% said he was poor or terrible.
While most Republicans say Trump was a good or good president, 15% call him just average and 11% say he was a weak or terrible president.
Americans are more mixed about how the Trump years have affected them personally. In fact, more people call themselves better at it than worse at it than when Trump took office, with a margin of 38% to 27%.
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The AP-NORC poll among 1,055 adults was on 28 January to Feb. 1 using a sample from NORC’s AmeriSpeak panel, which is likely to be designed to be representative of the American population. The sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
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Online:
AP-NORC Center: http://www.apnorc.org/.