More voters want Congress to investigate the violent, summer 2020 Black Lives Matter riots than the January 6 Capitol riot, according to a Rasmussen/National Police Association poll released Wednesday.
At least 66 percent of voters “think Congress should investigate last year’s violent protests, in which more than 2,000 police officers suffered injuries in the line of duty,” compared to only 49 percent of voters who support House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s select committee investigation of the January 6 Capitol riot.
After more than six months, House Democrats established a committee to investigate the January 6 riot in which one person died after being shot by a Capitol police officer. The committee has been criticized for being a “purely partisan exercise.”
In contrast, no committee has been established to investigate at least 574 Black Lives Matter protests that involved acts of violence, including assaults on police officers, looting, and arson.
Majorities of every racial group and political affiliation support a congressional investigation of last year’s violent protests, according to the poll. Only 21 percent of voters do not think Congress should investigate last year’s protests, and 13 percent are not sure.
Sixty-seven percent (67 percent) of whites, 64 percent of black voters, 66 percent of Hispanics and 62 percent of other minorities support a congressional investigation. Seventy-five percent (75 percent) of Republicans, 60 percent of Democrats, and 63 percent of voters not affiliated with either major party agree.
“In analyzing the survey results, the National Police Association (NPA) blamed reaction of elected officials to last year’s protests, which began after the death of George Floyd during a May arrest in Minneapolis, for a subsequent rise in violent crime,” according to the report.
The NPA said in a statement:
When the mayors of cities in which violent riots took place in 2020 refused to let police immediately stop the crimes taking place, it sent a message to violent criminals across the nation that crimes will be allowed and criminals won’t be touched. For the last year violent crimes have increased nationally and the lack of support from politicians has resulted in the number of police officers declining into a short staffing recruitment and retention crisis.
When voters were asked “should politicians who failed to acknowledge the violent riots from 2020 be criticized,” 62 percent said yes. In comparison, 51 percent of voters believe politicians deserve criticism for downplaying the January 6 Capitol riot.
Furthermore, 63 percent of voters think Black Lives Matter riot participants should be criminally charged in the same way January 6 rioters have been.
Sixty-five percent of voters think President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris should meet with the family of St. Louis Police Capt. David Dorn, “just as they did with the family of George Floyd,” according to the poll. Dorn was murdered in 2020 while protecting his friend’s business from looters.
The survey of 996 U.S. likely voters was conducted July 16-18, 2021 by the National Police Association and Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent confidence level.
