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Almost 6 in 10 Americans said they blame President Trump for the violent insurrection that took place Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters, according to the latest 

But they are split on whether Congress should continue to take action against him after he leaves office next week, and half believe social media companies  such as Facebook and Twitter — which have banned him from their platforms — should not continue to restrict Trump after Wednesday.

Eight in 10 Republicans disagree that Trump is to blame for the violence, don't believe social media companies should continue restrictions on him and don't trust that results of the 2020 election were accurate. That's despite no evidence of widespread fraud and Trump's own administration saying the election was the "

All states have certified their results, and 

 the Electoral College vote count last week. 

Trump has continued to claim falsely that the election was stolen and rigged, repeating that message to tens of millions of his followers. That was amplified by conservative media in the lead-up to

 that was intended to stop the ceremonial counting of the Electoral College votes from the states that showed Democrat Joe Biden won the presidential election.

To date, Trump has still not conceded, even after 

the House impeached him for a second time

 Wednesday. Following the vote, Trump released a video denouncing plans for further violence and promised a peaceful transition, but he did not congratulate Biden on his victory.

The survey was conducted Monday through Wednesday this week. About two-thirds of the interviews were conducted before Trump was impeached. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Overall, 58 percent said Trump is to blame either a "great deal" or a "good amount" for the violence at the Capitol, while 40 percent said "not much" or "not at all."

Predictably, there is a sharp partisan divide — 92 percent of Democrats

and 55 percent of independents blame Trump, but 82 percent of Republicans do not.

Two-thirds of college graduates, nonwhites, those who live in cities and suburbs blame Trump a great deal or good amount.

Republican women (89 percent), Republican men (75 percent), white evangelical Christians (65%), whites without a college degree (52 percent) and those who live in rural areas (51 percent) are among the most likely to say they either blame Trump "not very much" or "not at all."

When it comes to trusting that the results of the election are accurate, 60 percent said they do, while 38 percent said they don't.

Almost all Democrats (92 percent) trust the results, as do a majority of independents (56 percent). But just 1 in 5 (20 percent) of Republicans do; a whopping 78 percent do not.

As with most things in the Trump presidency, there's a big split between whites with college degrees and those without — 67 percent of whites with degrees trust the results, while 50 percent of whites without do not.

There's also a predictable race and age split — 67 percent of nonwhites trust the result, compared with 56 percent of whites; 68 percent of Generation Z and millennials (those under 40) trust them, compared with 51 percent of Gen Xers, 59 percent of baby boomers and 55 percent of the "silent/greatest" generation (those over 74).

Taking action against Trump after he leaves office

Whether Congress should continue to take action against Trump for the Capitol violence is more controversial than whether he is to blame.

Americans are split on this question. By a statistically insignificant margin, 49 percent to 48 percent, they think Congress should. Among registered voters, however, it turns slightly more opposed, 50 percent to 47 percent.

The key here is independents. While 84 percent of Democrats think Congress should continue to pursue action and 88 percent of Republican think it should not, independents by a 13-point margin said it should not (55 percent to 42 percent).

On this question, there is a bit of a split between Democratic men and women, with Democratic women more likely to say keep going, 91 percent to 76 percent. Republican women, however, are the mirror opposite, with 92 percent opposed.

By a 50 percent-43 percent margin, Americans do not think social media companies should continue to restrict Trump's use of their platforms beyond his term as president.

Three-quarters of Democrats (73 percent) think they should, but 79 percent of Republicans and 56 percent of independents think they should not.

Again, other familiar splits occur, like along educational lines — 50 percent of college grads think they should, while 55 percent of those without college degrees think they should not.

The survey of 1,173 American adults was conducted via telephone using live callers, from Jan. 11 through Jan. 13 by the Marist Poll. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. There are 1,012 registered voters in the survey. Where they are mentioned, the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

Politics and Government News

Domenico Montanaro

Author

In the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, 58 percent say Trump is responsible for the riot at the Capitol, but most Republicans don't — and most of them don't accept the accuracy of the election either.

Poll: Majority of Americans blame Trump for violence at Capitol

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