Most Americans believe the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol can be described as an “insurrection” but remain divided on how it should be investigated, according to a new Monmouth University poll. 

Fifty-six percent of respondents said it is appropriate to call what happened on Jan. 6, when a mob of former President Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol, an insurrection, while an even larger majority — 72 percent — say it could be appropriately described as a “riot.”

In contrast, only one-third of respondents said that they see the events of Jan. 6 as a “legitimate protest,” according to the Monmouth poll. 

But there’s a wide partisan divide at play. Nearly half of Republican respondents — 47 percent — said that it is appropriate to describe what happened on Jan. 6 as a legitimate protest compared to only 13 percent of Democrats. 

Conversely, only 33 percent of Republicans say they would describe the events as an insurrection, a term dubbed appropriate by 85 percent of Democrats.

All told, half of those surveyed say they support the creation of an independent commission to examine what happened on Jan. 6. Another 31 percent believe that the matter should be handled through internal investigations, the poll found. 

Democratic lawmakers in Washington have pushed the need for an independent commission to look into the events of Jan. 6, and the House has already passed legislation to establish such a panel. Senate Republicans blocked the measure last month, arguing that it amounted to a partisan exercise. 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said this week that she is still hopeful lawmakers can reach an agreement on the commission and that she would give the Senate more time to rally support for the legislation. 

A report from two Senate committees released this month found that federal intelligence agencies failed to adequately warn police about the threat of violence on Jan. 6.

Still, Americans are divided on the accuracy of the Senate report. Forty-nine percent of respondents say they don’t have much confidence, if any, that the upper chamber’s review is accurate, while 47 percent have at least some trust in the process. 

The Monmouth University poll surveyed 810 U.S. adults by telephone from June 9 to 14. It has a margin of sampling error of 3.5 percentage points.