With the Supreme Court deciding to hear the issue of former President Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy, it was revealed on the 7th that more than half of the American people are opposed to disqualifying former President Trump from being a presidential candidate.
It is analyzed that the division of public opinion in the United States over the January 6 Capitol riot, which occurred to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, was influenced by the deepening situation ahead of the presidential election in November this year.
According to a public opinion poll released by CBS and YouGov on the 3rd to 5th of 2,157 people in commemoration of the 3rd anniversary of the January 6th Capitol riot, 54% of respondents said, ‘Each state should list former President Trump’s name on the ballot. ‘It should be included,’ he answered. 46% of respondents said that former President Trump should be restricted from running for president.
By political party support, 81% of Democratic supporters supported disqualifying former President Trump as a candidate, and 90% of Republican supporters supported maintaining former President Trump’s candidacy. Even among independents, former President Trump’s support for retaining his candidacy (56%) was higher than for his candidacy being disqualified (44%).
The CBS poll also reaffirmed division over the January 6 Capitol riots that occurred three years ago. Within the Republican Party, criticism of the January 6 Capitol riot appears to be weakening. Among Republican supporters, the response that they strongly criticize the storming of the Capitol decreased from 51% in 2021 to 32% currently.
Additionally, 66% of all Republican respondents said that those who stormed the Capitol should be pardoned. This figure is significantly higher than the total number of respondents in favor of amnesty (38%). In relation to this, former President Trump called the people detained in the January 6 Capitol riot “hostages” at a rally in Iowa the previous day and said to President Joe Biden, “Joe, release the January 6 hostages. They have suffered a lot.” He also said, “I experienced it.” Furthermore, the CBS poll also confirmed public concerns about the possibility of violence surrounding the U.S. presidential election.
Only 51% of respondents said that the presidential election loss would be accepted peacefully, while the remaining 49% said that ‘there may be violence.’ In an opinion poll released by the Washington Post (WP) on the 3rd, only 62% answered yes, 7 percentage points lower than in the December 2021 survey, to the question, “Do you think Biden’s election in the 2020 election was legitimate?”
In this survey, former President Trump’s theory of responsibility was also weaker (53%) than in 2021 (60%). In relation to the January 6 Capitol riot, the state Supreme Court considered former President Trump to have participated in the insurrection and applied the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits him from holding public office if he participates in the insurrection.
In the case of Maine, the Secretary of State, who manages elections, decided that former President Trump was ineligible to run due to the same constitutional provisions. Former President Trump filed a lawsuit against the Maine decision and appealed the Colorado Supreme Court decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Federal Supreme Court is scheduled to accept former President Trump’s appeal and proceed with a hearing on the Colorado Supreme Court ruling.