‘Sympathy’ surging for Jan. 6 rioters, 43% agree ‘they had a point’

An increasingly divided America is starting to show support for the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol rioters, with over four-in-10 believing that they had a point or acted appropriately in forcefully disagreeing with Congress’s certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory.

In the latest Suffolk University/USA Today poll, “sympathy” for the rioters has surged for the hundreds who swarmed the Capitol the day Congress and former Vice President Mike Pence agreed that Biden won the 2020 election fair and square.

“The survey, which was completed shortly before the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Trump, showed sympathy for the rioters has increased among the voting public over the past several years,” said Suffolk’s analysis.

“Only 48% of voters overall said they thought the rioters were ‘criminals,’ a significant drop from the 70% of voters who thought so in a Suffolk survey conducted just weeks after the attacks. Those who agreed that ‘they went too far, but they had a point’ rose to 37% from 24%, and 6% called their actions ‘appropriate,’ when in 2021 just 2% did,” it added.