A majority of Americans tuned out on the House select committee hearings on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot last week, a new poll released Wednesday found.
While 62% of Americans say they did not watch the panel’s second and third hearings held last week, 58% say they have heard or read about them, a Politico/Morning Consult survey showed.
Of the 39% who did watch, only 11% say they did in full and 28% say they saw “some.”
Among the 58% who say they heard about the hearings on June 13 and June 16 are 23% who say they heard “a lot” and 35% who say “some” — 42% were split evenly among “not much” or “nothing at all.”
The poll also found that 57% of Democrats watched in full or in part, compared to 32% of independents and 25% of Republicans.
The House select committee has focused on specific aspects of the Capitol riot in each of the four hearings it has held so far.
The two last week centered on how aides and staffers told President Donald Trump that his claims of fraud in the 2020 election were unfounded but he continued to press them and how the constant airing of those claims incited the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.
When it comes to specific testimony at the hearings, the percentages fall.
Thirty-eight percent say they heard “a lot” or “some” about Republican Judge Michael Luttig’s testimony that Trump and his allies remain a “clear and present danger to American democracy” while 21% say they have heard “not much” and 41% say they’ve heard “nothing at all” about it.
And 37% say they heard “a lot” or “some” about Trump lawyer John Eastman seeking a presidential pardon for his role in the election fraud claims, while 63% say they heard “not much” or “nothing at all.”
Asked about whom they blame for the events leading up to the Capitol riots, Americans overwhelmingly — by 81% — accuse the rioters themselves, 56% accuse Trump, 48% point to Republicans in Congress, and 34% put the onus on congressional Democrats.
Twenty-eight percent blame President Biden and 27% say it’s the fault of then-Vice President Mike Pence.
The panel has held four hearings so far, the first in primetime on June 9 and the fourth on Tuesday. The next hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
The poll surveyed 2,004 Americans between June 17 and 20.
It has a plus/minus 2 percentage-point margin of error.
