The New Jersey school surveyed 808 American adults by telephone from July 28 to August 1. It had previously asked Americans the same questions June 23–27, two weeks into the hearings. The results of the two polls are, in most respects, almost identical, with most changes in opinion falling well within the poll's 3.5-percentage-point margin of error.

In June, for example, 65 percent of Americans said the January 6 incident was a "riot," 50 percent called it an "insurrection," and 34 percent classified it as a "legitimate protest." Five weeks and numerous hearings later, those numbers had changed to 64 percent, 52 percent, and 35 percent, respectively — which is to say not at all. Not surprisingly, Democrats favored "insurrection" and "riot," while Republicans preferred "legitimate protest" and, to a lesser extent, "riot."

Is Trump directly responsible for what happened on January 6? A majority of Americans says he either did nothing wrong at all (32 percent) or, at most, encouraged those involved in the riot (26 percent). Most significant, however, is the fact that the portion of the public that believes Trump is directly responsible for the Capitol incursion has dropped from 42 percent in June to 38 percent in late July, a difference that falls outside the poll's margin of error and therefore signifies a genuine, if small, opinion shift.

Meanwhile, the percentage of Americans who believe President Joe Biden is only in office because of voter fraud hasn't budged since June; it's still 29 percent, though of course that view is far more prevalent among Republicans (61 percent) than it is among Democrats (two percent).