Voters Are Concerned About a Repeat of the January 6 Insurrection and Other Threats to Democracy
By Abby Springs and Lew Blank
Three years after hundreds of supporters of former President Trump broke into the U.S. Capitol building in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, voters across the country continue to condemn the event and voice concern about ongoing threats to U.S. democracy.
In a new survey, Data for Progress asked voters about their views on the 2020 election and the events of January 6, 2021. We find that a majority of likely voters (58%) believe the 2020 presidential election was fairly won by Joe Biden, including 93% of Democrats and 54% of Independents. However, 63% of Republicans think the election was stolen from Trump.
While a majority of Republican voters believe the 2020 election was stolen, a majority also believe that the violence on January 6 was not the right response. Nearly three-fourths of voters believe that supporters of President Trump “did the wrong thing by inciting violence and threatening our democracy” on January 6, including a majority of Republicans. These findings reflect no significant change from a previous survey in January 2023.
Voters were also asked whether they thought the January 6 insurrection could be described as “a peaceful protest,” “a patriotic act,” “a violent insurrection,” or “an attempted coup.” While at least 30% of Republicans describe the events as a “peaceful protest” (30%) or “a patriotic act” (36%), a strong majority of voters overall (61%) say that January 6 was “a violent insurrection.”
Furthermore, 55% of voters say they are “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about the events of January 6 happening again after the next presidential election in November. Twenty-six percent say they are “not at all concerned,” including 32% of Independents and 41% of Republicans.
We also examined whether a candidate’s support for the January 6 insurrection might impact their electability. Among Independents, 57% say they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who supports the January 6 attack.
The January 6 insurrection was a violent event on the public stage with the express intent of changing the outcome of a democratic election, but it’s not the only threat to democracy on voters’ minds. At the beginning of our survey, we asked voters how concerned they are about threats to democracy in the U.S. overall — 80% of Democrats, 69% of Independents, and 77% of Republicans say they are very or somewhat concerned.
Voters who say they are very or somewhat concerned about democracy were then asked an optional, open-ended question about what particular threats to U.S. democracy are occupying their thoughts. While the insurrection comes up frequently, respondents also cite a variety of other topics, including extremism from both parties, war and national security, immigration, and attacks on human and civil rights.
Democratic voters are overwhelmingly likely to cite Trump or MAGA extremism as a top threat to U.S. democracy (cited in 100 responses). An additional 32 Democratic respondents list war and national security — including terrorism, China, Russia, and the conflict in Gaza — as a top threat. Other top selections include the insurrection and GOP threats to elections (25), human, civil, and women’s rights (16), and domestic terrorism or gun violence (13).
The “other” section in the chart below includes issue categories with five or fewer responses. “Other” responses from Democrats include the threats of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, misinformation, and polarization.
Responses that didn’t list a particular threat (such as “I’m concerned in general”) were not included in this analysis.
Independent voters also most widely cite Trump or MAGA extremism as a top threat to U.S. democracy (41 responses). They also cite war and national security (24), Biden, Democrats, and the left (16), polarization and extremism (14), and Democrats interfering with elections or stealing elections from Trump (14) as top concerns. “Other” concerns for Independents about threats to democracy include authoritarian governments, human rights issues, and misinformation.
Among Republican voters, four main concerns about threats to democracy rise to the top: war and national security (54 responses), Biden, Democrats, and the left (43), immigration (37), and Democrats interfering with elections or stealing elections from Trump (36). Republicans worried about threats to democracy cite a wide range of concerns, with small groups and individual respondents indicating that they view media bias, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, domestic terrorism, and the January 6 insurrection as threats.
Altogether, these findings demonstrate that voters across party lines believe that the Trump supporters who broke into the Capitol on January 6 did the wrong thing and that a majority view the events as a violent insurrection and a threat to our democracy, rather than a “peaceful protest.” A majority of voters are also concerned about another insurrection happening and are less likely to vote for a candidate who supports the attacks. Ahead of the 2024 elections, voters are concerned about a variety of potential threats to democracy, including extremism from both parties, war and national security, immigration, attacks on elections, and threats to human and civil rights.
Abby Springs (@abby_springs) is the Press Secretary at Data for Progress.
Lew Blank (@LewBlank) is the communications strategist at Data for Progress.