Only GOP minority say Jan. 6 very violent

The fighting — so primitive and ferocious that one Capitol Police officer described it as “medieval” and another as a “trip to hell” — left more than 100 law enforcement personnel injured, some beaten with their own weapons.

Video cameras captured the violence live, with rioters clubbing officers with flag poles and fire extinguishers, even squeezing one between doors as he begged for his life.

Yet nearly a year after the Jan. 6 siege only about 4 in 10 Republicans recall the attack by supporters of then-President Donald Trump as very violent or extremely violent, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About 3 in 10 Republicans say the attack was not violent, and about another 3 in 10 say it was somewhat violent.

Their views were a distinct minority as overall about two-thirds of Americans described the day as very or extremely violent, including about 9 in 10 Democrats.

The findings reflect the country’s political polarization, with a false portrayal of the siege taking hold despite extensive footage that shows the ransacking of the building in harrowing detail. Trump and some allies in Congress and conservative media have played it down, falsely characterizing the attack as a minor civil disturbance.

It’s a view that is shared by many Republicans, though few go so far as to defend the rioters themselves.

“My understanding was that a lot of it was pretty peaceful,” Paul Bender, a selfdescribed conservative from Cleveland, told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “I’ve seen some video of the people just like marching in through a velvet rope.”

Bender, who said he didn’t keep up with the news coverage, added, “There were certainly outlier people who were not peaceful and were breaking through the windows and stuff like that, but I wasn’t aware of overt violence.”

Meanwhile, the percentage of Americans who blame Trump for the Jan. 6 riot has grown slightly over the past year, with 57 percent saying he bears significant responsibility for what took place. In an APNORC poll taken in the days after the attack, 50 percent said that.

The uptick is seen among Republicans as well, even as relatively few think Trump bears significant responsibility. Twentytwo percent say that now, up from 11 percent last year. Sixty percent say he had little to no responsibility.