Last month, the Associated Press reported that “fears of political violence are growing as the 2024 campaign heats up” and as “conspiracy theories” evolve. The AP claimed that these fears stemmed from the Capitol riots that occurred on January 6, 2021.
"As the 2024 presidential campaign heats up, experts on extremism fear the threat of politically motivated violence will intensify." https://t.co/ndW5LwJS79
— Kate Brumback (@katebrumback) November 18, 2023
A new poll from the Democratic research firm Navigator claimed that 83 percent of respondents are concerned about the threat of political violence in the United States today. Broken down, 42 percent of respondents said they are “very concerned” about political violence, while 41 percent said they are “somewhat concerned.” In the survey, 17 percent said that they are “not concerned.”
In the findings, 43 percent of respondents said they are “very concerned” about political violence in the future. Forty-two percent said they are “somewhat concerned” about political violence in the future. Fifteen percent said they are not concerned.
Sixty-six percent of respondents said they think “the events of January 6th could happen again.”
🚨 NEW POLL: Overwhelming majorities of Americans are concerned about political violence today (83%) and in the future (85%), as two in three are concerned the events of January 6th could happen again (66%). pic.twitter.com/FXoellzD3U
— Navigator Research (@NavigatorSurvey) December 13, 2023
In the survey, Democrats (86 percent) were more likely than Republicans (80 percent) to be worried about a perceived threat (via The Hill):
The poll results showed that Democrats are also more likely to associate terms like “January 6,” “Trump,” and “white supremacy” with the idea of political violence, while Republicans said terms like “fighting,” “riots,” and “Democrats” are more likely to be related. Independents fell somewhere in the middle, mentioning terms such as “riots,” “fighting” and “protests.”
Republicans are also perceived as more prone to use political violence to push their agenda, with 47 percent of participants agreeing with the sentiment. Broken down by party, 80 percent of Democrats said Republicans are more prone to political violence, while 68 percent of Republicans said Democrats are more prone to it. Among independents, 38 percent said Republicans, 23 percent chose Democrats and 39 percent said they were unsure.
By an 11-point margin, Americans believe the Republican Party is more prone to violence in pushing their agenda than the Democratic Party (47% Republicans – 36% Democrats), including a 15-point margin among independents (38% Republicans – 23% Democrats). pic.twitter.com/d6c1Kz3u6J
— Navigator Research (@NavigatorSurvey) December 13, 2023
The study was conducted among 1,000 registered voters from Nov. 3 to Dec. 4.
