More than half of all Americans think Jan. 6-like attack will be repeated

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Over half of all Americans believe an attack like the one that brought mass violence to the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 will be repeated in the next few years, according to a poll released on Wednesday.

In all, the Axios-Momentive survey found that 57% of Americans agree a similar event will happen soon, and just 55% agree that US President Joe Biden legitimately secured the White House in the November 2019 race.

Over 60% of respondents think the Capitol riot changed the way they view the government, at least temporarily, including 81% of Democrats and 52% of Republicans.

The poll is the latest this week to highlight the lasting impacts of the carnage.

A poll from ABC/Ipsos released on Sunday found that while the overwhelming majority of Americans think the insurrectionists posed a threat to the nation’s democracy, a significant portion — 25% — thought the rioters were protecting it.

That means that one year after the riot, one in four Americans believe the people who stormed the Capitol were defending the country, opinions likely founded on former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of electoral fraud, which he and his allies have continued to disseminate.

The poll did not break down party affiliation for those opinions, but a separate Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey released on Tuesday found that less than 40% of Republicans believe the Jan. 6 attack was extremely or very violent. Nearly 30% believe it was not violent at all.

The first anniversary of the Capitol insurrection will be marked on Thursday with Biden expected to deliver remarks to a highly divided nation.