A new Washington Post-University of Maryland survey following up on many of the same questions about January 6th and the 2020 election asked in December 2021 finds that two years of MAGA propaganda have been pretty effective, as the share of Republican respondents who said the Capitol rioters were “mostly violent” declined from 26 percent to 18 percent, who believe Biden’s win was legitimate down to 31 percent vs 38 percent two years ago, and that Trump bears responsibility dropping from 27 to 14 percent, while few similar declines were seen among Dems and indies. The vast majority of Trump voters – 80 percent – and Republicans – 72 percent – said also it’s “time to move on” from the Capitol riot, as if they themselves have moved on from the 2020 election.
The Post followed up with some of the respondents, getting quotes like “There were so many people that felt the election was rigged. It was not right for them to break in like that, but they were fed up and frustrated and they were whipped into a frenzy by the FBI and others,” said Ohio Trump fan Colleen Michaels, who said she would’ve gone to DC on the 6th if she hadn’t recently suffered a stroke. “In the beginning when I heard about it, I was very upset that Trump didn’t come out and say, ‘Stop,'” said 68 year-old GOP-leaning independent Florida voter Gloria Bowden.
“I still wish he would have [told people to leave the Capitol earlier], but I don’t know that it would have mattered. It was planned,” Bowden said. She found the January 6th committee hearings “totally one-sided,” and that criticism of Trump over the years was enough to give him a pass. “The man had been through so much in four years that at one point you finally say, ‘Let them do it,'” Bowden said.
As shitty as the MAGA voter response has been, there is better-ish news in the poll’s findings. A decent enough majority – 56 percent – say Trump is guilty of a crime for his coup attempt with room to grow in another 11 percent “not sure.” A similar number, 57 percent, say the DOJ is holding Trump accountable under the law like anyone else. Something closer to unanimity was found with whether Trump would accept a defeat in 2024: 70 percent of respondents said he would not.