Despite the media and mostly left-leaning politicians filling the airwaves with memories of January 6, 2021, it appears that average Americans just aren’t focused on it.
That’s what White House correspondent Alex Roarty discovered when he watched two focus groups of moderate voters – held by a liberal group – who didn’t rate the events of that day on their list of concerns. This isn’t a good look for Democrats, who believe that Jan 6 was a rallying cry against democracy by those involved.
Roarty posted a Twitter threat that captures exactly how the two groups reacted to discussing Jan 6:
Watched 2 focus groups w/moderate voters last night, put on by a liberal group.
Moderator asked 1st group (five women) about Jan 6th. Long pause followed, before one of the women asked what he meant. Invoking “Jan. 6” didn’t immediately mean anything, even days after anniversary
— Alex Roarty (@Alex_Roarty) January 11, 2022
“Moderator asked 1st group (five women) about Jan 6th. Long pause followed, before one of the women asked what he meant. Invoking “Jan. 6″ didn’t immediately mean anything, even days after the anniversary.”
… two others, after agreeing how awful the attack was, said they thought Biden and Democrats had gone too far in the way they talked about last week on the anniversary. One of the women said she thought they had over-embellished it.
— Alex Roarty (@Alex_Roarty) January 11, 2022
The second focus group, which was made up of men, didn’t give Democrats much to work with either.
Later, when asked specifically about how POTUS and Dems marked the anniversary, two men jumped in pretty eagerly to talk about how Biden had made a mistake looking backward instead of trying to move the country forward. They expressed a feeling he had politicized a tragedy
— Alex Roarty (@Alex_Roarty) January 11, 2022
Anyone else starting to sense a pattern here?
However, cuz this is an important component: After the first two men agreed Biden had mishandled, another jumped in to say he thought Biden's speech was appropriate, that he needed to call out the forces/people responsible for the attack. And that prompted longer discussion …
— Alex Roarty (@Alex_Roarty) January 11, 2022
with one of the first two men — who had been so forceful about Biden mishandling the anniversary — jumped back in to clarify that he thought the attack was terrible and worrying. Very broad, strong agreement on that point in both groups
— Alex Roarty (@Alex_Roarty) January 11, 2022
the one point that kept coming up, across both groups, was a desire to find person responsible for attack. That person/people, the fg participants said, needed to be held accountable, and they weren't sure they had been.
That's probably the point that will frustrate Ds the most
— Alex Roarty (@Alex_Roarty) January 11, 2022
Usual caveats apply: These were just two focus groups, not some kind of exhaustive poll/research. But what I saw does broadly align with what Rs and D strategists told me last week about what they saw in their own research https://t.co/aUSGf7xWrO
— Alex Roarty (@Alex_Roarty) January 11, 2022
Long story short, moderate voters are more concerned with kitchen table issues such as 7% inflation, the highest level in 40 years, than they are with the liberal media’s pet issues. This didn’t come as a shock to many Twitter users, who recognized the disconnect between the average American and the media:
You mean January 6th wasn’t as bad as 9/11 or Pearl Harbor? I’m shocked 🙄
— Shane (@arringto12) January 11, 2022
Pretty much said was that January 6th isn’t a thing anymore because people understand it was just a riot like all the other riots throughout the summer 2020 and the more media and Democrats try to make it a thing, the more people understand that the concern is over blown.
— Miguel (Mike to you gringos) (@Mike_Zander77) January 11, 2022
I don’t care about either party, but I didn’t see anything scary during the whole thing. It looked like a senior citizens tour without a tour guide mixed with a bunch of younger people that felt they had “permission” due to the past summers events. If they’d been armed, dif story
— George Hale (@George_Hale81) January 12, 2022
People have tuned out, and rightfully so
They have bigger issues to attend in their personal lives that leadership is hellbent on ignoring
— WillC (@PNW_Views) January 11, 2022
Only people who care about Jan 6 are avid MSNBC watchers. No real person has brought it up once since Jan of last year. No one cares. It is over. Doesn’t effect anyones lives.
— jacob wischmeier (@wischj) January 11, 2022
As someone who lives in the DC area, it is also important to remember that it is an information bubble. The rest of the country doesn’t think the same way.
— Voting Rights (@raz47) January 11, 2022
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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