Trump's support remains resilient, while one in three Americans now question Biden's 2020 win: Poll

Donald Trump is off the presidential primary ballot in two of the US states—Maine and Colorado, due to the role he played in the unfolding of theCapitol riots, which has been etched in American history as a 'dark day'. However, a new poll found that a majority of Americans, mainly Republicans, remain sympathetic to Trump and his supporters who on January 6, 2021, stormed the Capitol Hill.

They are also slightly less likely to view President Joe Biden's election win as legitimate, it emerged according to a poll.

Public's 'not guilty' verdict for Trump

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Even as Trump faces multiple bans over the Capitol riot, a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll has found that Republicans in the US are more sympathetic to his supporters who stormed the government office.

The poll found that Republicans are now less likely to believe that Jan 6 rioters were "mostly violent."

Furthermore, they are also less likely to believe Trump bears responsibility for the attack. As per a Washington Post report, respondents during follow-up interviews revealed that they now believe that the "riot was instigated by law enforcement to suppress political dissent."

This, as per the report, is a "baseless conspiracy theory" that Trump himself has made mention of in his speeches. Furthermore, it has also been promoted by right-wing media.

However, Democrats still, for a large part, continue to believe that the Riot was "a violent threat to democracy for which Trump bears responsibility."

Only 55 per cent of the poll participants said that the Jan 6 riot threatened democracy, others, most of them Republicans, disagree.

More than 7 in 10 Republicans said it was "time to move on".

Joe's win illegitimate, feel poll respondents

Even after audits in more than one state and nationally televised congressional hearings that confirmed that there was no evidence of fraud in the 2020 elections Trump lost, an increasing number of Americans question the legitimacy of Biden's win.

As per the Washington Post and UMD poll, more than one-third of Americans do not accept Biden's victory as legitimate. Only 62 per cent said that the current US president was legitimately elected. This is down from 69 per cent who in another Washington Post-University of Maryland poll from 2021 said the win was legit.

The recent poll conducted from December 14 to 18 found that older Americans were "slightly more" likely to accept the win as legitimate, compared to the younger generation.

Furthermore, sevenin 10 Americans predict that if Trump were to once again lose in 2024, he would not concede and accept the results.

(With inputs from agencies)