Most in NC blame Trump for Capitol riot, want him barred from running again, poll says
Nearly six in 10 North Carolina adults believe that former President Donald Trump is very or somewhat responsible for the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol at the heart of his Senate impeachment trial that begins next week, a new poll found.
The poll found that North Carolina adults, by a small margin, support the impeachment proceedings against Trump and, by a larger margin, they support him being banned from running for president again.
Trump won the state in his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.
The poll released by Elon University on Friday morning sampled 1,455 adults in the state. The political affiliation of those surveyed was 30% Republican, 35% Democrat and 35% neither.
Trump was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives on a charge of incitement of insurrection on Jan. 13, one week after the riot at the Capitol by pro-Trump extremists left five people dead, including a police officer.
Before the riot, Trump held a rally outside the White House, in hopes of pressuring members of Congress not to certify the election result.
“We’re going walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators, and congressmen and women. We’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong,” Trump said.
Members of Congress, who were evacuated from the chambers and rushed to safety during the breach, returned later that night and voted to certify President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
Biden was sworn in on Jan. 20.
‘Responsible’ for violence
In the poll, 42% said Trump was very responsible and another 17% said he was somewhat responsible. Another 14% said Trump is only a little responsible and another 28% said Trump is not at all responsible.
Democrats overwhelmingly said Trump was very responsible (74%), while a Republican majority (55%) said he’s not responsible at all. More of those in the “neither” category said Trump is very responsible for the attack (39%) than said he bears no responsibility (24%).
Among Republicans, nearly one-quarter said Trump was very responsible (9%) or somewhat responsible (14%).
The Senate impeachment trial is set to begin Monday. In the poll, 47% said they support the proceedings against Trump with 43% opposed.
Republicans opposed impeachment 84% to 11%, while both Democrats (79% to 13%) and those of neither party (45% to 39%) supported it.
If Trump is convicted, he could also be barred from running for political office in the future. More than half of those in the poll (51%) said they support the Senate prohibiting Trump from running in the future, with 40% opposed.
A national Quinnipiac poll released Thursday found 50% of Americans think Trump should be convicted and 45% think he should not.
Democratic House impeachment managers, in their brief filed Tuesday, said “Trump’s responsibility for the events of January 6 is unmistakable.”
In their defense brief, filed Tuesday, Trump’s lawyers “denied that President Trump incited the crowd to engage in destructive behavior.”
Biden had a 49% approval rating in the poll with 33% disapproving of the job he is doing as president. Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, had a 52% approval rating and a 31% disapproval rating in the poll.
How Burr, Tillis will vote
Ten Republicans in the U.S. House voted for impeachment in January, but all eight of North Carolina’s GOP representatives were opposed to impeachment. All five of North Carolina’s Democrats in the House voted for impeachment.
North Carolina Republican Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis supported a measure calling the Senate trial unconstitutional because Trump is no longer the president. Both Burr and Tillis voted to acquit Trump during his first impeachment trial in January 2020 and both voted to certify the election results.
Burr said in a statement on Jan. 6 that Trump “bears responsibility for today’s events by promoting conspiracy theories that have led to this point. It is past time to accept the will of American voters and to allow our nation to move forward.”
Conviction in the Senate would require at least 17 Republicans. Tillis, who in a social media post tore up the articles of impeachment after Trump was acquitted the first time, indicated that he is against conviction and against banning Trump from running again.
“Congress should not dictate to the American people who they can and cannot vote for,” Tillis said in a statement.
Trump won North Carolina’s 15 electoral votes in the 2020 election, winning 49.9% of the vote to Biden’s 48.6%. Trump won the state by about 94,000 votes.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Domecast politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Megaphone, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published February 5, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Most in NC blame Trump for Capitol riot, want him barred from running again, poll says."
