More than one third of Americans believe Trump's January 6 actions were illegal, poll finds 

A new poll by The Economist and YouGov America found that 36% to 44% of Americans believe that former President Donald Trump’s actions around the January 6 Capitol takeover were illegal as the Justice Department conducts an investigation into the former president’s actions.

Additionally, around 30% to 44% of respondents also believe the actions that some other actors in the Trump administration took were also illegal. 

The Economist/YouGov poll has tracked people’s opinions over the past month on how much responsibility they believe Trump had for the Capitol take over on January 6. 

The previous week, the poll found that 75% of Democrats believe former president Donald Trump has “a lot” of responsibility for the takeover, along with 34% of Independents and 9% of Republicans. 

In the most recent poll, the results showed very little movement: 79% of Democrats believed Trump was responsible, compared to 36% of Independents and 12% of Republicans. 

The recent poll, however, found a 4-percentage-point drop in Republicans (50%) who say that Trump had no role in the attack, compared to the previous week.  

Throughout the whole month, Independents have had the largest percentage point change among those who believe Trump acted illegally. At the beginning of the month, 42% had said he acted illegally, compared to 36% in the most recent poll. 

This week, the Justice Department announced that it will investigate Trump’s following the 2020 election as part of the criminal probe into the January 6 riots.  

Prosecutors in front of a grand jury are asking former White House staffers, including top aides to former Vice President Mike Pence, about conversations with Trump, his legal team, and his inner circle about reports that the allies of the former president attempted to create alternate electors for the states won by President Joe Biden, according to The Washington Post.