Poll: Majority say Trump should be criminally charged, barred from office

Most Americans oppose the activity taken by pro-Trump rioters who were involved in the deadly attack at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, according to a new poll.

Of those asked, a majority said they not only opposed the riot, they believe President Donald Trump bears responsibility for it, telling pollsters that he should be removed from office and disqualified from serving again.

The poll was released Friday morning the The Washington Post and ABC News.

Over half of U.S. adults — 54% — said the president should be criminally charged for his role in the deadly Jan. 6 riot, according to the poll. That includes 1 in 8 who identify as Republicans,

The poll found that 56% of all adults — 89% of those who are “Democrat/Lean Democrat” and 12% of those who are “Republican/Lean Republican” — think Congress should remove Trump from office and disqualify him from holding elected office in the future.

Two-thirds of respondents — 66% — said Trump has “acted irresponsibly” since his November election loss to President-elect Joe Biden. When asked if they believed if there was “solid evidence” behind Trump’s baseless, repeated claims of widespread voter fraud, 62% responded no.

The Washington Post-ABC News phone poll was conducted between Jan. 10 and Jan. 13, among a random national sample of 1,002 adults, according to the newspaper. Results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Matt Small

Matt joined WTOP News at the start of 2020, after contributing to Washington’s top news outlet as an Associated Press journalist for nearly 18 years.

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