PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Although it’s been more than a year since supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol to try and prevent Congress from certifying the presidential election results, a recent poll shows the aftermath of those events has continued to fuel political divide here in Oregon.
A statewide poll conducted by the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center (OVBC) found roughly 30% of Oregonians still believe there was significant fraudulent voting involved in the 2020 election.
February 1-7, 2022, OVBC surveyed 1,584 Oregonian adults relative to the state’s population, and asked the residents a series of questions regarding the presidential election and political unrest.
“Nearly six in ten (57%) Oregonians believe there was either virtually no fraudulent voting in the 2020 presidential election (36%) or there was very little fraudulent voting, and it had no impact on the results (21%),” OVBC stated.
The poll revealed people who live in a city were more likely than their rural counterparts to believe there was no voter fraud involved in the 2020 presidential election, as 52% of Multnomah County residents maintained there was virtually no election interference compared to 32% in other regions.
According to the survey, approximately three-in-10 Oregonians believe there was significant voter fraud.
Of those individuals, 19% conveyed they thought fraud altered the results of the election, while 8% felt the outcome would have remained the same regardless.
“There is a stark partisan divide on this issue, with 61% of Democrats believing there was virtually no fraudulent voting, compared to only 11% of Republicans,” stated OVBC. “Whereas one-half (49%) of Republicans believe there was major fraudulent voting, and it changed the results of the election.”
As it pertains to Jan. 6, 2021, Oregonians appeared to be very split on their definitions of the events that took place at the U.S. Capitol building.
Of the Oregonians surveyed, 44% would describe Jan. 6 as “an attempted coup or insurrection,” 26% said the events could be called “a riot out of control,” while 8% said the actions were “a reasonable protest,” and 10% believed the event was carried out by anti-Trump government agencies or Antifa.
When asked about feelings regarding acts of violence towards the government, OVBC found most Oregonians disagreed with the statement; “sometimes it is okay to engage in violence against the government,” with 52% stating they “disagreed” and 39% conveying they “strongly disagreed.”
“Sometimes it is okay to engage in violence against the government.” February 2022 (Courtesy OVBC)
As Portland has become renowned for the city’s plentiful protests, it may or may not come as a surprise that a vast majority of Oregonians said they approve the prosecution of protesters, according to the survey.
This belief was a position held strongly by residents on both sides of the political spectrum as the poll stated, “Three-quarters of Oregonians (74%) agree with the statement ‘It is okay for the government to arrest and prosecute protesters who break the law.’
According to the survey, only 10% of Oregonian residents did not approve of prosecuting protestors and 12% did not have an opinion.