A Broader Political Divide
However, these divided view of the events of 6 January are only an extreme symptom of the broader political divide in the US.
The fundamental divide is on the validity of the election result itself.
- According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in November 2020, 68 percent Republicans said they were concerned that the election was “rigged”. 52 percent Republicans actually said that Trump had “rightfully won”.
- The numbers put out by a CNBC/Change Research Opinion Poll from November are even more stark.
- Just three percent of Trump voters said that the accepted Biden’s victory as legitimate, 73 percent of them considered Trump as the legitimate winner.
- This is important: 31 percent Trump voters said that Trump should fight it out in court until the states ratify the results but a huge 66 percent said that Trump should “never concede”.
This is dangerous and explains what happened in Capitol Hill. Over 73 million people voted for Trump in the elections. If two thirds of them…