Poll: Dems, Republicans see DC riot differently

(4 Jan 2022) It was a scene of such ferocious fighting that one Capitol Police officer described it as "medieval". Another responder called it a trip to hell. More than 100 officers were injured, some beaten with their own weapons. Yet nearly a year after the January 6 siege, a minority of Republicans recall the severity of the attack on the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump. Only about  4 in 10 describe it as very or extremely violent, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About 3 in 10 Republicans say the attack was not violent, and about another 3 in 10 say it was somewhat violent. "So the poll found that it seems like Republicans kind of think that that things have been overblown a bit," Associated Press polling editor Emily Swanson says.   Overall, about two-thirds of Americans described the day as very or extremely violent, including about 9 in 10 Democrats. The findings reflect the country's political polarisation, with a false portrayal of the siege taking hold despite extensive footage that shows the ransacking of the building in harrowing detail. Trump and some allies in Congress and conservative media have played it down, falsely characterizing the attack as a minor civil disturbance. It's a view that is shared by many Republicans, though few go so far as to defend the rioters themselves. Meanwhile, the percentage of Americans who blame Trump for the Jan. 6 riot has grown slightly over the past year, with 57% saying he bears significant responsibility for what took place. In an AP-NORC poll taken in the days after the attack, 50% said that. The uptick is seen among Republicans as well, even as relatively few think Trump bears significant responsibility. Twenty-two percent say that now, up slightly from 11% last year. Sixty percent say he had little to no responsibility. The insurrection was the closing act of Trump's desperate effort to overturn his election loss to Joe Biden. After Trump's baseless claims of voter fraud were soundly rejected in the courts, he shifted his focus to the Electoral College certification on Jan. 6, publicly pressuring then-Vice President Mike Pence to stop Congress from naming Biden the winner. Pence did not have that power under the law, as the vice president's function is largely ceremonial. Trump promoted the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the attack, predicting it would be "wild," and in a speech that day urged his supporters to "fight like hell" as Congress convened to certify the election results. The attack halted that process for hours as rioters occupied the building. While few Republicans blame Trump, Republicans and Democrats alike overwhelmingly say that the individual rioters had a great deal or quite a bit of responsibility for their actions during the riot. About 7 in 10 Americans also say a House select committee should continue its investigation of the attack, while about 3 in 10 say it should not. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi chose all the members of the committee after rejecting the choices of House GOP leadership. Rep. Bennie Thompson, Democratic chairman of the committee, said it's important for Americans to know that Democrats first tried to create a bipartisan commission with an equal number of members from each party. But Republicans in the Senate blocked it from passage. ___ The AP-NORC poll of 1,089 adults was conducted Dec. 2-7 using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...