Even as then-president Donald Trump‘s supporters marched on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, observers struggled to decide whether the spectacle amounted to an insurrection, a protest, a riot, or even a terrorist attack.
The words since used to describe Jan. 6 have been hotly contested. A University of Massachusetts Amherst Poll this week shows that, over time, the US public’s attitude has softened as the language for the event is toned down.
The survey comes days after the second anniversary of the attack, President Joe Biden’s latest denouncement of a ‘violent mob of insurrectionists’, and as historians seek to place the event among other watersheds like 9/11 and Pearl Harbor.
Pollsters found that while 55 percent of their 1,000 respondents called Jan 6 a ‘riot,’ the share who speak of a ‘protest’ has risen steadily, from 43 percent in April 2021 to 49 percent now.
A University of Massachusetts Amherst Poll shows that, over time, the US public’s attitude has softened as the language for the event is toned down
Over the same period, the share of those who call Jan 6 an ‘insurrection’ has dropped from 48 to 41 percent.
Terminology is key — ‘insurrection’ describes a violent bid to topple the US government, whereas ‘protests’ presents Trump’s crowd exercising a right to disagree with the November 2020 presidential election results.
Tatishe Nteta, the university political scientist who oversaw the poll, noted that while ‘many in the mainstream media and prominent elected officials’ dubbed the event an insurrection, the public has gone its own way.
‘The majority of Americans when reflecting on Jan. 6 have viewed the event as a ‘riot’ and the participants as ‘rioters,’ Nteta said in a statement.
As expected, Republicans are less critical of Jan. 6 rioters than are Democrats. They eschew terms like ‘terrorists,’ ‘looters,’ or ‘mob,’ in favor of positive phrases like ‘protestors’.
The report comes after Biden marked the second anniversary of Jan. 6, paying tribute to the five police officers who died of various causes after the attack, and conferring honors on those who defended the Capitol.
Republicans are less critical of Jan 6 participants than are Democrats. They typically eschew terms like ‘terrorists,’ ‘looters,’ or ‘mob,’ in favor of more positive words, such as ‘protestors’.
The president in harsh terms slammed a ‘violent mob of insurrectionists’ who ‘assaulted law enforcement, vandalized sacred halls, hunted down elected officials, all for the purpose of attempting to overthrow the will of the people.’
It also follows months of congressional inquiries into the riot, which wrapped up last month with a call for Trump to be prosecuted. Some 950 people have been arrested, charged or prosecuted and others are under investigation.
One of the most high-profile trials against the Capitol rioters opened in Washington DC on Thursday, with leaders of the far-right Proud Boys facing justice for their roles in the event.
Raymond La Raja, another political scientist who worked on the poll, said the committee hearings had not changed views on who was behind the riot — most people have blamed Trump since the outset.
Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021
Historians are trying to grapple with how the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol ranks alongside the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001 or the 1941 Japanese strike on Pearl Harbor. ‘The evidence so far suggests that January 6 will not join their ranks,’ says scholar William Galston
Still, as the hearings dragged out, he noted a ‘slight uptick in the past two years of voters saying ‘it is time to move on’ from the investigation, increasing from 44 percent to 50 percent.’
A YouGov poll this month reached similar conclusions: instead of becoming less popular these past two years, the number of US adults who approve of the Capitol attack has risen markedly.
It grew from 9 percent in January 2021 to 20 percent now. Interestingly, the rise was more pronounced among Democrats.
William Galston, a political scientist, recently analyzed polls to weigh how the Jan. 6 riot would rank alongside other seminal moments, such as al-Qaeda’s September 11, 2001, attacks, or Japan’s strike on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
‘The evidence so far suggests that January 6 will not join their ranks,’ said Galston, a scholar at the Brookings Institute think tank and Clinton-era White House aide.
‘It is more likely that, to future generations, the day the US Capitol was stormed will serve as a reminder of the deep political divisions that characterized the current era of American politics.’
Pollsters this month found that instead of becoming less popular these past two years, the number of adults who approve of the Capitol attack has grown markedly
