A quarter of Americans believe FBI instigated Jan. 6, the Washington Post reports, based on a poll by the Washington Post and the University of Maryland. The poll found that 25% of Americans say it is “probably” or “definitely” true that the FBI instigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, though, as the Post notes, that is “a false concept promoted by right-wing media and repeatedly denied by federal law enforcement.” A smaller proportion, 11 percent of the public overall, thinks there is “solid evidence” that FBI operatives organized and encouraged the attack, while 13 percent say this is their “suspicion only.”
That perception is heightened among Republicans, 34 percent say the FBI organized and encouraged the insurrection, compared with 30 percent of independents and 13 percent of Democrats. The results confirm that misinformation about Jan. 6 is widespread as the United States heads into a presidential election year, during a campaign in which the former president and leading 2024 Republican candidate Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed support for those who participated in the insurrection.