Does rising support for political violence prove Americans didn’t learn from Jan. 6? – By Justin Klawans (The Week) / Oct 25, 2023
A new poll shows nearly a quarter of Americans approve of violence ‘in order to save our country’
Nearly three years removed from the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, it appears the United States is only becoming more fractured — and increasingly violent. A poll released Wednesday found that not only did a majority of Americans believe the nation’s democracy is withering, but that a startling percentage of them also supported political violence ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
The poll, conducted by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), questioned 2,525 adults with a 2.19% margin of error. It found that 75% of respondents “agree that the future of American democracy is at risk in the 2024 presidential election,” and 77% “believe that the country is going in the wrong direction.”
The most shocking figure from the poll, though, could be that 23% of respondents agreed that “true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save the country.” This figure happens to be largely split among party lines, with 33% of Republican respondents approving of violence as opposed to 13% of Democrats. The poll also showed that there was significant support overall — 38% — for a shift toward authoritarianism. Does this poll show that Americans have abandoned the warnings of Jan. 6? And how will it play into the upcoming election?
