Since the committee hearings began on January 6, according to a new poll done by ABC News and Ipsos, public sentiment has turned marginally against Donald Trump.
Nearly six out of ten Americans say former President Donald Trump should be punished criminally for his alleged role in the Capitol rioting on Jan. 6, 2021.
According to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll, 58 percent of Americans now support prosecuting Trump for inciting the mob that attempted to prevent Joe Biden from becoming president by breaking into the US Capitol.
This is up from a previous ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted in late April — before the committee began holding public hearings on its investigation on Jan. 6 — which found that 52 percent of Americans wanted Trump charged.
New responses are largely divided into party lines, with 91 percent of Democrats believing he should be prosecuted with a felony, compared to 19 percent of Republicans.
The most current poll was conducted following the third hearing, which revealed how Trump incited his fans to turn against then-Vice President Mike Pence, making him a target during the riots.
“Approximately 40 feet. That’s all there was, 40 feet between the vice president and the mob,” Rep. Pete Aguilar, a member of the committee, said in the session last week. “Make no mistake about the fact that the vice president’s life was in danger.”
According to the new poll, 60 percent of Americans believe the Jan. 6 committee has performed a “fair and impartial” inquiry thus far, up from 40 percent before the hearings. (In the previous poll, 20% had no opinion on the issue. Now, only 2% have no opinion.)
While the results are generally divided along party lines (85% of Democrats and 31% of Republicans believe the committee is acting fairly), ABC News reports that less than one in ten Americans have been following the proceedings “very closely.”
As per People, the next public hearing is set to begin at 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Members of the committee are anticipated to show that Trump pressured top authorities in Georgia and Arizona to overturn election results in 2020 so that he might remain in office.