Poll: Majority of Republicans blame Biden for mob storming the Capitol

A majority of Republican voters surveyed in a new YouGov Direct poll believe that President-elect Joe Biden is to blame for the group of President Trump’s supporters who stormed the Capitol Wednesday. 

The poll, which surveyed nearly 1,450 registered voters on the events at the Capitol, found that among Republicans, 52 percent identified Biden as the biggest culprit, rather than Trump himself. 

Comparatively, just 26 percent of Republican voters blamed the president for inciting the violence, while another 26 percent pointed fingers at congressional Republicans who vowed to block the official tally of Biden’s presidential win.

Ahead of the events at the Capitol, Trump urged protesters at a rally earlier Wednesday to march on Capitol Hill as lawmakers met for the final, official count of Electoral College votes affirming Biden as the next president. Trump for weeks has repeated unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election was “fraudulent” and “stolen.” 

Both GOP and Democratic lawmakers alike held Trump responsible for Wednesday’s events, especially following a since-removed video the president shared on Twitter in which he repeated false claims of a stolen election when urging his supporters to act peacefully.

Despite the view of Biden’s responsibility among a large portion of Republicans, a majority of all voters surveyed in the YouGov poll, 55 percent, said that Trump is “a great deal to blame.” 

Republicans were also divided in their support for Wednesday’s events, with 45 percent of registered GOP voters saying they actively supported the actions of the demonstrators, with 43 percent opposing. 

Among all voters, nearly two-thirds, or 63 percent, said they “strongly” opposed the actions of those who stormed the Capitol, and 62 percent said they viewed the events as a threat to democracy. 

While 59 percent of voters who were aware of Wednesday’s events at the Capitol said they viewed them as more violent than peaceful, 58 percent of Republicans said the opposite, believing the actions of protesters were largely peaceful. 

On Thursday, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in Washington, D.C. identified dozens of people they are accusing of “unlawful entry” at the Capitol, which forced lawmakers, staff and reporters to flee the area. 

Police announced Wednesday after many of the rioters dispersed that four people had died, including one woman who was shot by a Capitol Police officer. The three other fatalities occurred due to “separate medical emergencies.” 

Fifty-two people were arrested, and police also discovered two pipe bombs near the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee.

Talks have also grown among lawmakers to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office as a result of Wednesday’s events, including Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.)

Among voters surveyed in YouGov’s poll, 50 percent agree with immediately removing Trump from office, while 42 percent see such a move as inappropriate. Meanwhile, 85 percent of Republicans strongly oppose the move. 

The survey, conducted in the early evening Wednesday, reported a 3.3 percent margin of error.