Political violence can be justified, an increasing number of people in the US believe.
The trend is visible among people who want Donald Trump to become president again – but is even more common among those who are against it, according to a study.
Political violence has become more common in the US in recent years. Support for political violence has also increased among the population, notes Robert Pape, professor of political science at The University of Chicago.
He has studied political violence for 30 years and since the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, has focused on political violence in the US.
We found, from the beginning, significant support for political violence among the general public, he says to CBS.
Want to stop Trump
In Pape's latest survey from June, support for political violence has increased. When asked if it is justified to use violence to make Donald Trump president again, 6.9 percent answer yes – but those who believe it is justified to prevent Trump from becoming president again are even more numerous.
We have found that 10 percent of adult Americans support the use of violence to stop Donald Trump from becoming president, says Robert Pape.
Among those who believe political violence is justified, regardless of the reason, a significant proportion own guns, the survey shows.
The more intense the political environment becomes, the more likely it is that there will be anger and the more likely that anger will spill over into political violence. We must start taking this seriously, says Pape.
"Overarching climate"
Most Americans still do not see violence as a way to resolve political disagreements, but recent studies have shown the same trend, that support for violence is increasing.
Last fall, 23 percent believed that "patriots may need to use violence to save our country", compared to 15 percent when the same question was asked in 2021, in a study by the PRRI institute in collaboration with the Brookings Institution think tank.
There is a certain increased support for political violence and also an increased willingness to engage in it among ordinary Americans, says Cynthia Miller-Idriss at American University's Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab, to PBS.
According to her, everyone must think about how they act in their daily lives to reduce polarization.
Every time you justify this type of violence, you never know who will hear it, or how it contributes to an overarching climate where violence is seen as a solution.
Support for using violence to stop Donald Trump from becoming president again is greater than support for using violence to install him in the White House again.
6.9 percent of the study's participants answer that violence is justified to reinstall Trump as president.
10.0 percent believe that violence is justified to prevent Trump from becoming president again.
The survey was conducted on June 20-24, 2024, by the Chicago Project on Security & Threats (CPOST) at The University of Chicago. 2,061 people responded. The margin of error was 2.97 percent.
Source: Chicago Project on Security & Threats
