What Americans Really Think About January 6

Three years after a mob stormed the Capitol, a third of Republican voters now believe FBI agents fueled the Jan. 6 attack, remarkable new polling shows. A quarter of American adults believe this statement is “certainly” or “probably” true, according to a new poll from the Washington Post and the University of Maryland.

The data comes as President Joe Biden prepares to hold his first campaign event of the year focusing on the democracy issue near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, in a potential rematch that could see former President Donald Trump repeatedly has drawn attention to jailed rioters and said he will pardon a “large proportion” of them. Pollsters asked respondents, “Do you think it is true or false that FBI agents organized and encouraged the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021?”

It was a reference to conspiracy theories about a “false flag” operation, which the FBI has denounced. The number of American adults who said they were “not sure” was 26 percent, while 48 percent said it was probably or definitely not true. It comes despite about 700 pleading guilty on Jan. 6 to charges including trespassing on Capitol grounds and assaulting police officers. Video footage shared widely on social media that day and played by the Jan. 6 House committee shows rioters using flagpoles and fire extinguishers as weapons as they overran police barricades. One hundred and forty police officers guarding the Capitol that day were injured.

Belief in the FBI conspiracy is stronger among Trump supporters and Republicans. Trump began his March rally in Waco, Texas, with a choir of Jan. 6 inmates singing the “Star Spangled Banner.” Among supporters, 44 percent say it is definitely or probably true that FBI agents organized or encouraged the attack. Among Republicans overall, 34 percent said it was definitely or probably true, while another third weren't sure and 30 percent said it was probably or definitely false.

The poll also found that 11 percent of Americans said there is “hard evidence” that the FBI orchestrated the attack, while another 13 percent cited “mere suspicions.” The FBI has rejected the claim, with Trump-appointed FBI Director Christopher Wray calling the idea “ridiculous.” Trump said at a CNN town hall in May that he would pardon a “large portion” of the January 6 defendants.

“I can't say that for every single one of them because some of them have probably gotten out of hand,” Trump said. A new poll from Suffolk University shows that two-thirds of Americans (67 percent) of Trump supporters do not believe Biden was legitimately elected president in 2020 — following Trump's repeated and persistent claims that the election was “rigged” and that he had 'won'. the election.

That comes despite numerous courts rejecting Trump allies' claims of election fraud in 2020. Last month, a jury in Washington, DC, awarded $140 million to a pair of election workers in Georgia who sued former Trump ally Rudy Giuliani for defamation after he accused them of tampering with the vote in their state, which Biden carried.

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