On Sunday, ABC News/Ipsos released the findings of their latest poll, which specifically focused on the January 6 select committee hearings. The headline for ABC's write-up declared that "6 in 10 Americans say Trump should be charged for Jan. 6 riot: POLL," with an overwhelming amount of attention spent on how respondents feel about the role former President Donald Trump played in the Capitol riot from January 6, 2021. It's not until the last few paragraphs that the write-up acknowledges few Americans are bothering to even watch it.
From the write-up:
Democrats are more likely to be following the hearings. Overall, 34% of Americans are following the hearings very or somewhat closely, with 43% of Democrats and 22% of Republicans saying so. In a reminder of where political attention is, just under one in 10 (9%) Americans say they are following the hearings very closely.
On whether the investigation will have an impact at the polls, just over half (51%) of Americans say that what they've read, seen or heard about the hearings has made no difference in who they plan to support in this November's election. Meanwhile, 29% say they are more likely to support Democratic candidates and 19% say they are more likely to support Republican candidates.
Not only are so few Americans following thew hearings, they also don't think it'll make a difference at the polls. What's not mentioned is that when it comes to the poll's results, a plurality, at 36 percent, say they are following the hearings "not closely at all."
The poll was conducted June 17-18, with a random national sample of 545 adults and a margin of sampling error of 4.5 points.
As our friends at Twitchy pointed out, even CNN's Brian Stelter picked up on what the actual takeaway is here, which is to say Americans aren't closely watching the hearings.
Only 9% of Americans say they are following the Jan. 6 hearings "very closely," per this new ABC/Ipsos poll https://t.co/qdAfOrgyzb
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 20, 2022
Although the poll did not ask respondents what issues will make a difference at the polls, multiple polls have consistently signaled that Americans care about economic issues, particularly inflation, which they give Democrats and President Joe Biden low marks on. The Republican Party has also consistently led on those issues in various polls.
It's worth pointing out that when it comes to how much respondents blame Trump in this particular poll, by 58 to 41 percent, the results conflict with an NBC News poll from earlier this month. That poll found that even fewer respondents blame Trump, compared to previous months.
This ABC News/Ipsos poll also claimed that by 58-40 percent, respondents believe "Trump should be charged with a crime."
Criminal referrals for Trump have been a point of contention between Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and Liz Cheney (R-WY), who serve as the select committee's chairman and vice chairwoman, respectively. Rep. Thompson insists that it is for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to charge Trump with a crime, something another select committee member, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), has echoed, while Rep. Cheney has claimed they had not yet made a decision.