Americans swayed slightly by House Jan. 6 committee hearings, poll finds

Nearly 60% of Americans say former President Donald Trump should be charged with a crime for his role in the U.S. Capitol riot, according to a poll conducted midway in the House Jan. 6 committee’s series of public hearings scheduled for this month.

A similar percentage of respondents say the committee’s investigation is fair and impartial, according to the  ABC News/Ipsos survey.

The poll, conducted late last week following the committee’s third public hearing on Thursday, found that 58% of Americans say Mr. Trump should be charged for the riot, up from 52% in April.

Just days after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, 54% of respondents to an ABC News/Washington Post poll said Mr. Trump should be criminally charged for inciting a riot.

The latest poll also shows that 58% of Americans say Mr. Trump bears a “great deal” or “good amount” of responsibility for the riot at the Capitol, unchanged from attitudes conveyed in a December 2021 poll and similar to findings in a poll just days after the riot.

The poll surveyed 545 adults, of whom 28% were Democrats, 26% Republicans and 40% independents. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

The attitudes conveyed in the latest poll are mostly divided along party lines: 91% of Democrats and 19% of Republicans say Mr. Trump should be charged with a crime.

Similarly, 91% of Democrats say Mr. Trump bears a “great deal” or “good amount” amount of responsibility for the riot, while only 21% of Republicans say he bears the same amount of responsibility.

The majority of self-described independents (62%) say Mr. Trump should be charged and 61% say he bears a “great deal” or “good amount” of responsibility.

Views on the committee’s investigation are also split along party lines: 85% of Democrats say the panel is conducting a fair and impartial investigation, compared to 31% of Republicans. Among independents, 63% say the committee is fair and impartial.

Overall, 60% of respondents said the committee’s investigation is fair.

The panel kicked off its series of public appearances to unpack its findings after a nearly yearlong investigation this month with a prime-time hearing followed by two daytime hearings featuring live testimony and videotaped depositions and scenes from the Capitol during the riot.

Despite the committee’s efforts to grab Americans’ attention, just 9% of respondents to the ABC News/Ipsos poll say they are following the hearings “very closely.”

About a quarter, 24% say they are following the hearings “somewhat closely.” The majority (66%) say they are following the hearings “not so closely” or “not closely at all.”

Democrats are more closely tuned in to the hearings than Republicans, with 43% of Democrats saying they are following the hearings somewhat or very closely compared to 22% of Republicans.

Just over half, 51%, of respondents say the hearings have made no difference in how they plan to vote in the upcoming midterm elections.