Rasmussen Poll: Majority Think Feds Provoked 1/6

A 65% majority of likely voters now believe that undercover federal agents provoked the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol Building, according to a new Rasmussen poll.

In late February, prior to Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s airing of security footage, 61% thought it was likely that government agents secretly operating in the crowds provoked the unrest.

According to the poll, 46% say it is very likely that federal agents incited the crowd to the point of clashing with law enforcement and storming the Capitol when Congress was in the process of certifying the 2020 election results.

“Following Tucker Carlson’s release of previously unseen videos from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, more voters now believe it may have been provoked by undercover agents,” Rasmussen’s poll analysis read. “Among voters who have ‘very closely’ followed news about Carlson’s broadcast of new videos of the Capitol riot, 72% think it’s ‘very likely’ that undercover government agents helped provoke the riot.”

The issue of anti-Trump government agents agitating behind the scenes appears to have bipartisan support among those polled.

“Seventy-four percent (74%) of Republicans believe it is at least somewhat likely that undercover government agents helped provoke the Capitol riot, as do 59% of Democrats and 62% of voters not affiliated with either major party,” the survey analysis read.

Government officials have long denied playing a role in the events of Jan. 6. The Department of Justice has charged approximately 1,000 protestors and said it plans to charge hundreds more. Some of the defendants have been sentenced to years in prison.

Former President Donald Trump was impeached for a second time a week after the protest on the charge of inciting an insurrection. He was later acquitted by the Senate.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., made 41,000 hours of security footage from Jan. 6 available to Carlson to fulfill a promise he made during his campaign to become speaker.

Congressional Democrats railed against what they called a politically-motivated decision and said the move jeopardized Capitol security.