Chris Lange, FISM News
A new CBS poll showing that most Americans believe the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill surge was a “protest that went too far” is being downplayed by the liberal network, as first reported by Fox News.
The poll, conducted by CBS News and YouGov from Dec. 27 – Dec. 30, asked, “What happened at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021?” The results indicate that a whopping 76% of respondents selected that option – information CBS chose not to include in a graphic included in their reporting of the findings. The second-ranked choice, coming in at 63%, was “trying to overturn the election and keep Donald Trump in power,” which was also omitted from the graphic.
The network, however, did include the third most popular selection, “an insurrection,” which came in at 55 %, along with selections that were even less popular. CBS also downplayed the fact that, among those who chose the “protest that went too far” option, 69% were Democrats, along with 80% of Republican respondents.
While the network briefly acknowledged the most popular descriptor selected, its reporting on the poll results centered around more partisan responses. “Descriptions of what happened are also similar to how they were a year ago after it happened,” CBS News wrote in a Sunday article commemorating the first anniversary of the Capitol Hill surge. “People widely call it a protest that went too far, but how much further becomes more partisan. Most Americans — including most Democrats, but just a fifth of Republicans — call it an insurrection and describe it as an attempt to overturn the election and the government.”
The selective reporting did not go unchecked by conservatives, including Washington Examiner reporter Jerry Dunleavy, who tweeted: “CBS News did this poll & one question they asked was if the folks being polled considered the Capitol riot to be ‘a protest that went too far.’ CBS must not have liked the results… so they just didn’t include it in the graphic.”
The article also skimmed over a notable breakdown of the results showing that 70% of Biden voters surveyed felt that way, along with 80% of independents and 84% who identified themselves as Trump supporters.
Liberal commentators quickly took to Twitter to lambast the findings and criticize CBS for its wording of the questions.
“These are all highly flawed political caricatures (cooked up by CBS journos) that Americans should not have to choose between,” tweeted Daily Caller’s Geoffrey Ingersoll.
“[A]ctual out-loud-laugh at the options here,” Washington Examiner commentator Becket Adams reacted.
“The most accurate description (something along the lines of ‘violent riot’) isn’t even an option on this poll,” wrote Tablet Magazine’s Noam Blum. “This type of poor methodology leads to a ‘circling the wagons’ effect that just spits out partisan results almost regardless of the question itself.”
Substack writer Jim Reacher concurred, tweeting, “’A riot’ isn’t one of the choices. It’s also the only accurate choice. This poll sucks.”
During Thursday’s commemorative speeches marking the first anniversary of the surge on Capitol Hill, President Biden vowed to never again allow anyone to “place a dagger at the throat of democracy,” while Vice President Kamala Harris drew somber comparisons between the date and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces on Dec. 7, 1941.
Yet despite the best efforts of Democratic politicians and the liberal media to keep the events of Jan. 6 in the spotlight and fan the flames of outrage, the poll’s findings suggest the message is failing to resonate with average Americans who are likely more preoccupied with kitchen-table issues, like record-breaking COVID-19 infections, test kit shortages, and soaring inflation, to name a few.