More than half of voters surveyed blamed President Donald Trump for the rioting Jan. 6 at the Capitol, according to an NBC News poll released Sunday.
A total of 52 percent said the president was solely or mainly to blame for his supporters storming the Capitol during the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory. Five people died during the insurrection and dozens of people have been arrested. The president, whose term of office ends Wednesday, was impeached last week by the House.
An additional 18 percent of those surveyed in NBC’s poll put some blame on Trump, with 29 percent saying he was “not really responsible.”
Notably, a mere 11 percent of Republicans surveyed blamed Trump for the mayhem, compared with 44 percent of independents and 91 percent of Democrats.
In addition, 28 percent of the Republicans polled said that Trump’s actions related to the events of Jan. 6 made them happier that they had supported Trump. Only 5 percent said they now regretted voting for Trump, while almost two-thirds (66 percent) said their feelings for the president were unchanged.
The polling allowed those surveyed to distribute blame for the Jan. 6 rioting. While Trump drew more blame than anyone else, a total of 38 percent said social media companies were solely or mainly responsible, followed by 33 percent for conservative media outlets. Among the others who drew significant blame were QAnon (30 percent) and Antifa (28 percent).
A total of 49 percent said they thought the Jan. 6 insurrection was not an isolated incident but “the start of a major increase in violent political protests and riots.”
Looking at the entirety of Trump’s presidency, almost half of those polled (49 percent) said Trump ranks “definitely worse than most” presidents, with 19 president putting him as “one of the very best” presidents, and 21 percent listing him as “better than most.”
The NBC News poll of 1,000 registered voters was conducted Jan. 10-13 by Public Opinion Strategies and Hart Research. The margin of error for registered voters is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
