More Americans now believe that former President Donald Trump was merely “exercising his right to contest the [2020] election” than they did a few years ago, while fewer believe he “went so far that he threatened American democracy,” according to a newly-released survey.
More Americans still believe the latter over the former, but the gap between the two beliefs has closed in recent years, according to the latest New York Times/Siena National poll on the question. This same poll has asked registered voters the question since at least July 2022, and since then, voters have shifted toward the belief that Trump had every right to contest the election and away from the belief that he threatened democracy.
When the question was asked in early July 2022, 39% of respondents said they thought Trump was exercising his right, while 55% said he threatened democracy. This was more than a year after the events of January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters entered the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop then-Vice President Mike Pence from certifying the 2020 election results as questions about the validity of the ballots remained.
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Now, however, the number of people who believe Trump was just exercising his rights has risen to 46%, while the number who believe he threatened democracy has dropped to 49%. The number of people who said they were unsure or refused to answer has also dropped nearly in half, from 7% in July 2022 to just 4% now.
The latest poll with the question was conducted just after news broke that former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney had communicated with an anti-Trump January 6 hearing witness. Cheney, then representing Wyoming, communicated with the “star witness” of the hearing behind the witness’ attorney’s back, The Daily Wire reported. The initial communication was facilitated by then-Trump strategic communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin, but Cheney later communicated directly with the witness, Cassidy Hutchison.
“Cheney interacted with the witness, former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, through ex-Trump strategic communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin — and later directly — in an effort to compel further testimony …” the New York Post reported.
“Though she worked behind the scenes to obtain Hutchinson’s juiciest allegations in 2022, some of which were later found to be false, Cheney never mentioned the backchannel talks with Hutchinson or Griffin in her book ‘Oath and Honor’ about the riot,” the Post added.
The conversations between Hutchinson and Griffin began two months before the hearing began. Hutchinson’s communications with Cheney started three days before the hearing.
