Abstract
After the 2020 presidential election, sustained efforts to overturn outcomes culminated in the invasion of the United States Capitol. While scholars have long investigated the impact of news on support for left-leaning protests, it is critical to understand how political predispositions and news consumption relate to support for anti-democratic movements. Through a survey fielded one week after the invasion, we analyzed how ideology, attitudes about protesting in general, authoritarianism, and media habits relate to people's support for the movement, perceptions of its disruptiveness, and opinions about police response. Results show that conservative media have a strong unidirectional relationship, increasing support for the movement, while left-leaning or mainstream media impact is moderated by partisanship, which is related to increased support for liberals and decreased support for conservatives. We found authoritarianism related to support for Stop the Steal and perceptions of the police as too severe to suppress it. Evidence suggests elite cues and consumption of conservative media can legitimize insurrectionist movements, even among those who strongly oppose the right to protest overall.