Nearly half of Americans say Trump should be charged for Jan. 6 Capitol attack: poll

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A new national poll suggests that nearly half of Americans believe former President Donald Trump should be charged with a crime for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol.

According to a survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 48% of adults nationwide say Trump should be charged for a crime for his role in the deadly attack by right wing extremists and other protesters who aimed to upend congressional certification of now-President Biden’s 2020 Electoral College victory. Thirty-one percent of those questioned said the former president should not be charged, with one in five saying they don’t know enough to form an opinion.

The poll was conducted June 23-27, following five public hearings by the Democratic dominated House select committee investigating the riot at the Capitol – which aims to produce testimony showing Trump’s potential criminal culpability in fueling the attack. But the survey was taken ahead of Tuesday’s last-minute hearing by the committee that featured former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, whose testimony made national headlines this week.

Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide to Mark Meadows when he was White House chief of staff in the Trump administration, testifies before the House Jan. 6 select committee on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, June 28, 2022. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

There was an expected partisan divide on whether Trump should be charged with a crime, with 86% of Democrats questioned saying he should, but Republicans saying he shouldn’t by a 68%-10% margin. Independents were more divided, with 38% unsure, 36% saying the former president should be charged, and a quarter insisting he shouldn’t be charged.

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In a separate question, 58% of all respondents said Trump bears a great deal or quite a bit of responsibility for the attack on the Capitol.

The former president has repeatedly pilloried the committee and its testimony on social media this month. Trump has attacked the panel as the "Highly Unselect Committee" and has charged that witnesses have been telling "lies and fabricated stories" with "an all Fake Narrative being produced."

President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally near the White House on Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

According to the poll, 42% of Americans say they’ve watched or listened to the hearings, with 57% saying they’re not watching or listening. Two-thirds of independents and just over seven in 10 Republicans say they haven’t watched or listened to the hearings.

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The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research questioned 1,053 adults nationwide for the survey, with an overall sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points.