A new Harvard/Harris poll asked Americans their level of concern regarding various rioting that took place over the course of the last year, and the results came as a surprise to many given the excessive amount of media attention paid to the January 6th pro-Trump riot at the Capitol.
“Which do you find more concerning – the violence in American cities during the summer or the riots at the Capitol on January 6th?” the monthly Harvard/Harris poll conducted in late February asked respondents.
The results showed that 55% of respondents said the summer race riots spurred on by the Black Lives Matter and Antifa movements were more concerning, compared to just 45% that said the January 6th riot.
Though both the property damage and loss of life was significantly higher during the summer race riots, media coverage of the Capitol violence and the danger it poses to America’s democratic institutions has been persistent for nearly two full months.
But a full 64% of survey respondents said that they believed politicians were using the January 6th riot “to suppress legitimate political movements.” Only 36% disagreed with that notion.
There was little sympathy for extremists in either incident, as 71% identified Antifa as a “domestic terrorist group,” and 66% said the same thing about the Proud Boys.
