The latest polls of the American public showed that Americans are still worried about the future of democracy in their country, a year after the violent attack on the headquarters of Congress.
According to the results of two opinion polls – published on Sunday – about a third of Americans consider that “the use of force can sometimes be justified to defend ideas.”
According to an estimate by two-thirds of the people polled by CBS News, the attack by former President Donald Trump’s supporters on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021 is a “sign of an increase in political violence” and that American democracy is still “Threatened”.
As for Americans’ “pride” in their democracy, it declined to 54 percent, compared to 90 percent in 2002, according to a survey by the Washington Post and the University of Maryland.
Both surveys have concrete causes for concern; The first shows that 28% of the respondents who were surveyed believe that force can be used to defend the election result. The second reveals that 34% believe that violence against the authority can sometimes be justified.
The two polls also show the persistence of deep divisions within American society that President Joe Biden has promised to “remove.” Two-thirds of Donald Trump voters still believe that Biden was not elected legitimately and that the 2020 election was marred by fraud, in line with the former president’s unsubstantiated claim.
Prior to the attack on the Capitol, the former Republican president addressed his supporters, stressing that the elections were “stolen” from him, and called on them to “fight like demons.” That’s why nearly 60 percent of Americans believe he bears great responsibility for the attack on Capitol Hill while lawmakers ratified Joe Biden’s victory.
coordinated action
But opinions are based on party affiliations; 83% of Trump voters see his responsibility as “weak” or “non-existent,” according to a Washington Post poll. According to a CBS poll, 26 percent of Americans want Trump to run in the 2024 election.
To determine his role and the role of those around him in the events, the US House of Representatives formed a special investigation committee that conducted more than 300 interviews and collected thousands of documents despite the lack of cooperation from those close to the former president.
Committee Chairman Betty Thompson told ABC on Sunday that in six months, “we’ve discovered things that worry us, people have tried to undermine the integrity of our democracy.”
“It appears that there was a coordinated action of a number of people to undermine the presidential elections, they could be people in the administration, in the Ministry of Defense, in associations, very rich people or statesmen, and others, and he pledged to refer any evidence of illegal action to the judiciary,” the deputy added.
His colleague, Representative Liz Cheney, one of the few Republicans on this committee, accused Donald Trump of remaining silent throughout the assault. “He could have appeared on television to tell his supporters to stop, he could have told them to withdraw and go home. He didn’t. It’s hard to imagine a more serious abdication than that,” she said.