Less than half of Americans believe former President Donald Trump should be disqualified from the presidency in 2024 due to his alleged actions related to the January 6 Capitol riot.

The findings are from a poll conducted by the Washington Post and the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement from December 14-18, released on Tuesday.

Poll: Fewer than Half of Americans Believe Trump Should Be Disqualified for January 6 https://t.co/rQEUUePGVS

— Melanie (@MellieMAGA) January 4, 2024

The numbers

The poll revealed that 46% of respondents think Trump's actions should disqualify him, with 80 percent of Democrats, nine percent of Republicans, and 43% of independents supporting disqualification.

On the other hand, 50% of Americans believe Trump should not be disqualified for his actions on January 6, or they consider them "not relevant" to his fitness for the presidency.

This division reflects a near-even split among the public on the issue found in the Washington Post survey.

Fighting ballot bans

Despite the split opinion, four Democrat-elected Supreme Court justices in Colorado ruled that Trump engaged in insurrection, leading to a decision that he should be disqualified from running for the presidency.

The court ruled that his name should be removed from the ballot. Trump's legal team has filed for Supreme Court review to challenge this ruling, intending to maintain his name on the ballot.

The Democrat secretary of state in Maine, Shenna Bellows, has also ruled that Trump is barred from the state's primary ballot due to his role in the events of January 6.

The Maine appeal

Trump has appealed this decision in a Maine Superior Court in a move by his lawyers earlier this week. In his appeal, Trump's legal team reiterated arguments made in other legal proceedings, emphasizing that the secretary of state lacked the authority to disqualify him based on the interpretation of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

This section suggests that an individual who engaged in an insurrection against the United States is barred from seeking the presidency.

Trump's attorneys also contended that Bellows' decision was tainted by bias and a lack of due process, asserting that she should have recused herself from the process.

While Democrats pursue efforts to prevent Trump from appearing on the ballot, President Joe Biden plans to make January 6 a central theme in his re-election campaign.

Biden intends to spend the third anniversary of January 6 near the Revolutionary War site of Valley Forge in Pennsylvania. During this event, he is expected to criticize Trump for the riot initiated by a mob of his supporters attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election.