Poll: Half Of Republican Voters Approve Of Mob Storming Capitol, Blame Joe Biden For Riots

On Wednesday, supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol, protesting the results of the 2020 presidential election.

According to a poll from YouGov, most registered voters do not view the storming of the Capitol building favorably, but many Republican voters do.

In the poll, 45 percent of Republican respondents said that they approve of the mob’s actions. A large majority of Democrats and most independents disagreed.

Furthermore, a small minority of Republicans said that the actions of the violent mob could be perceived as a threat to democracy, while liberal-leaning and independent respondents said otherwise.

Virtually all Democrats and a majority of independents said that Trump should be held responsible for the actions of those who stormed the building, but Republicans disagreed with that assessment.

In the survey, 35 percent of Republicans said that President-elect Joe Biden is “a great deal to blame” for what happened, while another 17 percent said that the Democrat is “somewhat to blame” for what is being described as an insurrection.

Politicians, commentators and news organizations have used different terms to describe the violent group of Trump supporters that shook the nation on Wednesday. Some called them “extremists” and “domestic terrorists,” while others used terms such as “criminals” and “looters.” However, some on the right described them as “patriots.”

In the poll, Republicans were most likely to describe these individuals as “patriots,” echoing the president’s daughter and adviser, Ivanka Trump, who used the term in a tweet that has since been deleted.

Democratic lawmakers and even some Republicans have accused Trump of inciting violence and inspiring his supporters to invade the chambers of the U.S. Congress. In light of the events, prominent Democrats said that Vice President Mike Pence should invoke the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and remove Trump from office, while others called for his impeachment.

On this issue, the public is sharply divided along partisan lines, the survey found, establishing that a small minority of Republicans believe Trump should be removed from the White House, while most Democratic-leaning voters and nearly a half of independents believe that would not be the appropriate course of action.

As reported by CNN, on Wednesday, Biden described the rioting as an “unprecedented assault” on American democracy.

“This is not dissent, it’s disorder. It’s chaos. It borders on sedition, and it must end now. I call on this mob to pull back and allow the work of democracy to go forward,” Biden said, calling on Trump to “demand an end to this siege.”