Most Americans back independent investigation of Jan. 6 riot, Monmouth poll finds

Most Americans support the forming of an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, its handling by the Capitol police and the role played white nationalist groups, a Monmouth University poll released Wednesday found.

A little over half of Americans, 53%, backed such a commission, while 37% said its goals could be accomplished by internal reviews from existing bodies. The remaining 10% were unsure.

Democrats, 62%, were more likely to back a commission than Republicans, 49%, or independents, 47%, though all three groups preferred it to internal reviews, which were supported by 41% of Republicans, 30% of Democrats and 42% of independents.

“The public believes that an independent commission is the best way to get to the bottom of what happened on January 6th,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute. “They not only want the commission to look into security lapses at the Capitol, but also to examine the destabilizing forces in American politics that fed the attack.”

Overwhelming majorities would back an independent commission to examine the Capitol Police’s failure to prepare for the attack, 81%, the growth of militia groups, 76%, and the role white nationalism played in the attack, 70%, the poll of 802 U.S. adults found.

That support crossed party lines. While Democrats were more likely to support the inquiries, two-thirds of Republicans and independents backed an examination of preparation and growing militancy, and more than half backed a probe into white nationalism’s role in the attack.

A majority of Americans, 59%, also back an independent commission into claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election that have not been substantiated.

At 79%, Republicans were the most favorable to such an investigation, though a majority of independents, 59%, and 45% of Democrats said they’d approve of the same.

Most Americans, 62%, say Biden won the election, but 32% say voter fraud delivered him his victory. Nearly two-thirds of Republicans, 65%, said Biden only won because of voter fraud, despite election officials across the country not finding any significant fraud.

“The justification for allowing a commission to pursue a wide-ranging inquiry is the fact that a sizable chunk of the public continues to believe a false narrative about voter fraud determining the November election result,” Murray said.

A smaller chunk of Americans, 26%, believe the attack was fully, 8%, or partially, 18%, justified. Those results were also split cleanly along party lines. Four-in-ten Republicans said the attack was at least partially justified, as did 30% of independents and 10% of Democrats.

Six-in-ten Americans said white nationalism played a major, 47%, or minor, 23%, in the assault, while just 22% said it did not.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents, 64%, said white nationalism was a problem in America, including 88% of Democrats, 38% of Republicans, and 59% of independents.

While most Americans have heard of QAnon, the conspiracy that baselessly claims opponents of former President Donald Trump are running a global child sex trafficking ring, only 2% said they held it in high esteem.

“Many Americans point to underlying racism in society as a key factor that led to the violence in January. Most say white nationalism presents a challenge for the nation as a whole,” Murray said. “It appears to help feed the belief in conspiracy theories in general.”