Poll Porn: Keep Up Those Hearings, It's Moving The Needle ... A Little!

Lock 'em up.

Monmouth University released a poll yesterday on Americans' perception of the Capitol Riot after the House January 6 Select Committee spent a month explaining all the ways President Crime Boss and his allies tried to mount a coup to overturn President Joe Biden's electoral victory. The pollsters' results were mixed, to say the least.

So let's drink half a glass of water together on this weird Friday morning, shall we?

Unsurprisingly, we all think everything is going to shit shit here in US America, with 62 percent of respondents saying that our system of government is not sound and needs either "significant improvement" or "many changes." This represents a six-point rise from the last time Monmouth asked this question in November of 2021. Might this have something to do with the fact that this poll was taken between June 23 and June 27, and the Supreme Court set fire to women's bodily autonomy along with the last shreds of its own institutional credibility on June 24? It's a possibility! But not one that was acknowledged by the pollsters in the three pages of analysis accompanying the release of these results. Which, uh ... REALLY, GUYS?

Meanwhile 63 percent of us believe that Biden won the election fair and square, a slight uptick since June, with a corresponding downtick to 29 percent who say it was #Rigged. Yes, it would be nice if the scales fell from your weird uncle's eyes after Vice Chair Liz Cheney and a parade of Republican election officials said "No, seriously, we checked, there was no fraud." But considering the rightwing noise machine has been spewing crazy conspiracies nonstop, we'll take it .

Also unsurprisingly, just shy of two-thirds of us are willing to call the events of January 6, 2021 a "riot" and not a "legitimate protest." The rest of the country is full of crazy people — would that it were otherwise! Although, were we conducting a poll, we might try to disaggregate respondents' views about the much larger crowd of losers listening to President Wackass's Screech Fest on the Ellipse from the mob who beat up cops and took a shit in Speaker Pelosi's trash can. Just sayin'.

And speaking of losers, 42 percent say Trump is "directly responsible" for what happened that day, while another 25 percent say he "encouraged those involved." Again, approximately two-thirds of the country takes a dim view of the former president's role, with one third — here 30 percent — saying he's pure as the driven snow. Newsflash: Partisanship is real!

Sixty-three percent told pollsters they were paying at least some attention to the hearings, and 56 percent had "a lot" or "a little" confidence that the committee's investigation is fair. Which is not a terrible number, as is the six percent of respondents who changed their mind about "what happened at the Capitol that day or who is responsible" as a result of the committee's public work. Six percent is nothing to sneeze at, particularly in a country where we exist in media bubbles and where the most popular cable "news" channel is effectively running a disinformation op.

Furthermore, the poll took place before Cassidy Hutchinson's blockbuster testimony about Trump wanting to go to the Capitol himself and being entirely untroubled that the crowd was looking for Vice President Mike Pence so they could kill him. Mark Meadows's predecessor Mick Mulvaney is no profile in courage, but if Hutchinson's testimony got him off the Trump train , it's likely having at least some effect on other Trump supporters as well.

And now for the most surprising number in this survey: A full 66 percent answered "yes" to the question "Should members of Congress who assisted the planners of January 6th be removed from office, or not?"

HUH.

Maybe this thing is working, if we're in broad agreement that people who fomented an insurrection against the government shouldn't be in power! Of course, the country is gerrymandered to shit, so it's not like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Scott Perry are going to get booted out of office. But, hey, it's a start!

So, thanks, Monmouth. We're still a thirsty bitch, but maybe slightly less thirsty after that little refresher.

[ Monmouth ]

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