NEW POLL: Whopping 59% of Fox News Viewers Believe Trump ‘Behaved Appropriately’ on Jan. 6
L: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images — R: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images
Even after damaging hearings began, a whopping 59 percent of Fox News viewers say then-President Donald Trump “behaved appropriately” on Jan. 6.
The House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the Capitol began hearings last Thursday in primetime with shocking evidence that included Vice-Chair Liz Cheney‘s revelation that witnesses will testify about Trump’s reaction to chants of “Hang Mike Pence!” — namely, that his VP “deserved” to be hanged.
Fox News did not carry that first hearing live, although their newscasters did cover the proceedings on the lower-rated Fox Business Network. Even so, according to a new Yahoo! News/YouGov poll, 53 percent of Fox News viewers either watched live (22%) or caught news coverage later (31%). While a majority, that’s significantly lower than the numbers of CNN (72%) and MSNBC (90%) viewers who watched live or saw coverage later.
Consequently, or coincidentally, there were large disparities on certain questions. Respondents were asked “Do you believe Donald Trump behaved appropriately or inappropriately on January 6, 2021, the day of the attack on the U.S. Capitol?”
While only 19% of CNN viewers and 19% of MSNBC viewers said Trump acted “appropriately,” triple that number of Fox News viewers — 59 percent — said the same, and only 21% said he acted “inappropriately.”
Only Trump voters (65%) and Republicans (61%) were more likely to say Trump acted appropriately, within the margin of error for these subgroups.
Similar disparities were evident on other related questions:
- Do you agree or disagree that Donald Trump incited his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol? Agree — CNN:68% Fox News:24% MSNBC:71%
- Do you believe the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was part of a conspiracy to overturn the election? Yes — CNN:69% Fox News:24% MSNBC:70%
- Do you approve or disapprove of the Congressional committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol? Approve — CNN:73% Fox News:30% MSNBC:77%
Read the full poll here.
