Poll: Virginia voters split on blame for Charlottesville violence

Virginia voters are split on where the blame lies for the violent clashes earlier this month in Charlottesville, Va.
According to a poll by The MassINC Polling Group, 40 percent of registered Virginia voters surveyed blame the white nationalist marchers for the violence in Virginia.
Another 41 percent, however, think the blame falls equally on the white nationalist marchers and the counterprotesters.
{mosads}Just 6 percent think the counterprotesters should be blamed for the incidents earlier this month.
Only 15 percent of Republican respondents blame the white nationalist marchers for the violence, compared to 65 percent who think both the white nationalist marchers and counterprotesters are equally to blame.
The poll also found that just 30 percent of all respondents approve of the way President Trump handled the incident.
Pollsters also found that only 28 percent of respondents think Confederate monuments should be removed from public property, compared to a majority, 51 percent, that thinks they should stay.
The poll was conducted from Aug. 15 to 19 among 508 registered voters in Virginia. The margin of error is 4.4 percentage points.
Trump came under fire last week from lawmakers on both sides for his response to the violent clashes in Charlottesville.
During a press conference last week, he said there is “blame on both sides” for the deadly violence in Virginia.
In his address Monday, Trump called for unity and denounced hatred and bigotry.
“When we open our hearts to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice, no place for bigotry and no tolerance for hate,” Trump said at the beginning of a speech aimed at detailing the administration’s strategy in Afghanistan.
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