A year after Jan. 6 riot, Americans and Canadians agree U.S. democracy in peril: poll
Global News
The poll, conducted by the Angus Reid Institute, also found stark differences in how the event is viewed by conservatives and liberals in both countries.
One year after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, a majority of Americans and Canadians alike say democracy in the United States is under threat, a new poll suggests.
The poll, conducted by the Angus Reid Institute and released Thursday, also found stark differences in how the event is viewed by conservatives and liberals in both countries.
The divide is more severe in the U.S., where 68 per cent of respondents who voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 election disagree that the riots were an act of domestic terrorism — an opinion at odds with the FBI and other officials — while nearly three quarters still believe Trump won the election that he lost.
“There are only two (major) political parties in the U.S. … and this has become the narrative of one of those parties,” said Matthew Lebo, a political science professor at Western University who studies U.S. and Canadian politics.
“You cannot have a democracy with only one party that believes in democracy.”
Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of the riots, which saw supporters of Trump violently storm the Capitol building and disrupt the certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory the previous November. Seven people, including police officers, died during and after the siege.
Trump and his allies had spent months falsely declaring the election had been stolen from him, and had urged his supporters to “fight” at a rally held the morning of the attack.
A massive FBI investigation has resulted in criminal charges for over 725 people who participated in the riot, and a parallel investigation by U.S. lawmakers is looking into what Trump and his allies knew before and on Jan. 6 — as well as whether Trump stood by and did nothing as the riot unfolded.
Prince William expressed his shock and sadness Saturday at the news of the death of his former nanny’s stepson in the New Year's truck attack in New Orleans that killed 14 people.
South Korean investigators again asked the country's acting president to order the presidential security service to comply with an arrest warrant for the impeached president.
South Korean investigators left the official residence of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol after a near-six-hour standoff during which he defied their attempt to detain him.
The blowback comes after Ottawa sanctioned eight Chinese officials it accuses of "grave human rights violations" against ethnic and religious minorities.
A Seoul court issued a warrant for Yoon’s detention after he evaded multiple requests to appear for questioning and blocked searches of his office in Seoul.
An armed man killed at least four people and wounded four others on Wednesday in the western Montenegrin city of Cetinje, police and local media said.
Israeli strikes killed at least 12 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, mostly women and children, officials said Wednesday, as the nearly 15-month conflict ground on into the new year.
Revellers across Germany traditionally ring in the new year setting off fireworks, but the latest celebrations were marred by the use of fireworks against emergency officials.
Ukraine on Wednesday halted Russian gas supplies to European customers through its pipeline network after a prewar transit deal expired at the end of last year.
Auckland became the first major city to celebrate, as thousands thronged downtown or climbed the city’s ring of volcanic peaks for a fireworks vantage point.