Nearly 6 in 10 Americans say Trump should be criminally charged for his role in Jan. 6 riot, ABC poll says

WASHINGTON – Almost 6 out of 10 Americans want former President Donald Trump criminally charged in connection with the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, an ABC News/Ipsos poll shows.

The poll found that 58% of Americans say Trump should face criminal charges for the role he played in the riot, a higher percentage than in late April, when it was 52% in an ABC News/Washington Post poll.

By party, the poll found that 91% of Democrats say the former president should be criminally charged, compared with 19% of Republicans.

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Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the House Select Committee investigating the riot on Jan. 6, said Sunday on ABC News' "This Week" that Trump is "guilty of knowing what he did" leading up to the attack.

"Obviously, you know we're not a criminal charges committee, so I want to be careful in specifically using that language," Kinzinger said. He said he thinks what the committee is "presenting before the American people certainly would rise to a level of criminal involvement by a president and definitely failure of the oath." 

More: Trump's political operation, Republican groups paid millions to Jan. 6 organizers, watchdog says

© Alex Wong, Getty Images U.S. Reps. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., lead the House committee investigating the attack Jan. 6, 2021, on the Capitol.

The special congressional committee investigating the Capitol attack held its third round of public hearings last week, spotlighting the intense pressure Vice President Mike Pence received from Trump to overturn the 2020 election results.

A majority of those surveyed – 60% – say they believe the Jan. 6 committee is "conducting a fair and impartial investigation," up from 40% in April.

Day 3 hearing: Pence's role opposing insurrection takes center stage

The panel heard Thursday from witnesses who outlined Trump's effort to lobby his vice president to reject electoral votes for Joe Biden during the official certification of state results.

"We're fortunate for Mr. Pence's courage on Jan. 6," said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chair of the committee. "Our democracy came dangerously close to catastrophe."

The poll was conducted June 17-18 with a nationally representative probability sample of 545. It has a sampling error margin of 4.5 percentage points.

Contributing: Phillip M Bailey

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nearly 6 in 10 Americans say Trump should be criminally charged for his role in Jan. 6 riot, ABC poll says