Replication Data for: Don't Call it a Protest: Congressional Support for Democratic Norms During the January 6th Insurrection

Increasing partisan polarization has characterized American politics for decades. But the popular perception – emphasized by media accounts – holds that on Jan. 6, 2021, both Republicans and Democrats in Congress condemned the violent invasion of the U.S. Capitol. We hypothesize that even as the events themselves were unfolding, a marked partisan divide characterized congressional communication. We analyze all 1,861 tweets by members of Congress on Jan. 6 and find that Republicans were significantly more likely to characterize the invasion as a protest grown out of hand while Democrats described it as a violent insurrection. The results strongly indicate that partisan polarization was alive and well on Jan. 6 and may help to account for Republicans’ shift toward normatively positive portrayals of the day in subsequent months.