Majority of Americans believe Trump should be criminally charged for January 6, poll finds

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox

Get our free Inside Washington email

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

A new poll shows that a majority of Americans think that former president Donald Trump bears a large amount of responsibility for the riot on January 6 at the US Capitol and should be charged with a crime.

ABC News/Ipsos found that 60 per cent of Americans believe the select committee investigating the riot is conducting a fair and impartial investigation. Similarly, 58 per cent of Americans think that Mr Trump bears either a good or a great amount of responsibility for the events on 6 January and should be charged with a crime.

The poll was conducted between17 June and 18 June and had a sample of 545 adults who were 18 years old or older.

About a third of voters said they were following the hearings closely, with nine per cent saying they were watching it very closely and 24 per cent saying they are watching it somewhat closely. By comparison, 30 per cent say they are watching the hearings not so closely and 36 per cent say they are watching it not closely at all. Only one per cent say they skipped it.

The poll comes as the select committee begins its third week of hearings. Nearly 20m people tuned into the first prime time hearing of the select committee – which includes seven Democrats and two Republicans – despite vehement criticism from the former president and Fox News choosing not to broadcast the event on its flagship network.

Last week’s hearing featured testimony about how Mr Trump’s advisers repeatedly told him not to declare victory on election night, which he ignored on the advice of an allegedly drunk Rudy Giuliani, his attorney and the former mayor of New York City. Similarly, former advisers to former vice president Mike Pence detailed the pressure campaign that Mr Trump and his attorney John Eastman staged to convince Mr Pence to overturn the election results.

On Tuesday, Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his chief operating officer Gabriel Sterling are both set to testify this week.