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A Disturbing Amount of Young People, Democrats Believe Killing of UnitedHealth CEO Was 'Acceptable'

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  December 18, 2024 12:15 PM

Two weeks ago, Brian Thompson, who was the CEO of United Healthcare, was murdered as he was shot in the back early in the morning in New York City. He was allegedly killed by Luigi Mangione, who has been charged with multiple crimes, in New York and in Pennsylvania. And yet, because Thompson worked for an industry so many people have strong dislike for, there's been a sort of perverse downplaying, excusing, or justification by some. A recent poll adds some insight. 

According to an Emerson College poll released on Tuesday, 68 percent of voters think that the killing of Thompson is "unacceptable," while 17 percent find it to be "acceptable," and 16 percent are "unsure." But, as the headline of the poll's write-up focuses on, young people "diverge" from the majority. The "generational divide" was a trending topic for X on Tuesday, when the poll came out. 

Among those ages 18-29, 41 percent find the killing to be "acceptable," while 40 percent say it's "unacceptable." This is the only age group where more voters than not view the murder in such a way. A majority of every age group say that the killing is "unacceptable." A plurality of those ages 30-39 say it's "completely unacceptable," with 43 percent saying so, while a majority of every other age group beyond 18-29 and 30-39 say it's "completely unacceptable."

There's even a post from an account known as @ProudSocialist, which continues to justify the murder, noting the 41 percent figure is not surprising. "Young people have had it with the corporate oligarchy and just may provide the spark this country needs to move toward a better system," the user claims. 

A statement from Spencer Kimball, the executive director of Emerson College Polling, highlights these findings not only by age, but also by political party. 

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"While 68% of voters overall reject the killer’s actions, younger voters and Democrats are more split — 41% of voters aged 18-29 find the killer’s actions acceptable (24% somewhat acceptable and 17% completely acceptable), while 40% find them unacceptable; 22% of Democrats find them acceptable, while 59% find them unacceptable, this compares to 12% of Republicans and 16% of independents who find the actions acceptable, underscoring shifting societal attitudes among the youngest electorate and within party lines," Kimball is quoted as saying.

The poll was conducted December 11-13, beginning less than a week after Thompson's death. The survey included 1,000 voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus percentage points. 

That 22 percent of Democrats is not an insignificant number, especially since it's 10 points higher than the 12 percent of Republicans who find the killer's actions "acceptable."

And yet, it's not at all surprising. High profile elected officials have excused Mangione's alleged actions. There's Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who tried to walk back her remarks, though she wouldn't have had to do so had she not said what she said in the first place. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) echoed those remarks. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) also went in that direction, as did Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT). A common theme with such far-left politicians is that they tried to claim they weren't condoning violence or justifying murder, but they still put a "but" in there.

Here's a sampling of their remarks:

  • Warren: "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the health care system. Violence is never the answer, but people can be pushed only so far," she said in an interview with HuffPost. "This is a warning that if you push people hard enough, they lose faith in the ability of their government to make change, lose faith in the ability of the people who are providing the health care to make change, and start to take matters into their own hands in ways that will ultimately be a threat to everyone."
  • AOC: "This is not to say that an act of violence is justified, but I think for anyone who is confused or shocked or appalled, they need to understand that people interpret and feel and experience denied claims as an act of violence."
  • Sanders: "Obviously, killing and murdering and shooting somebody in the back is totally unacceptable, uh...but what I think has happened in the last few months is that what you have seen rising up is people’s anger at a health insurance industry which denies people the health care that they desperately need while they make billions and billions of dollars in profit."
  • Murphy: "What I see happening in this country, though, is a real visceral anger that the outrage at Brian Thompson's death, or the outrage that any powerful person, isn't matched by the anger over the thousands of people who die, often anonymous deaths every single day in this country, at the hands of a healthcare industry that mostly doesn't give a s**t about people, and only cares about profits." His remarks also included several instances of "but."

Last week, Mangione was charged in Pennsylvania with forgery, carrying a firearm without a license, tampering with records or identification, possessing instruments of crime and false identification to law enforcement authorities. On Tuesday, as Jeff covered at the time, he was charged by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg with one count of murder in the first degree and two counts of murder in the second degree, including one count of murder in the second degree as an act of terrorism.

Star Parker wrote a column published in Townhall for Wednesday morning highlighting how Mangione's defense tactics will likely be about his "mental state at the time of the killing." As Parker wrote:

It seems clear that Mangione's thinking is quite clear and acute. This appears to be the same young man that was class valedictorian at his elite high school and that earned bachelor's and master's degrees at ivy league University of Pennsylvania.

The problem is not his ability to think and analyze but what he chose to do with the information he produced. After the notes about the U.S. health care system noted above, he wrote, "These parasites simply had it coming."

Now if this defines insanity, both Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should be booted from Congress as being insane. Their observations, both of which implied justification of the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, were not much different from what Mangione said:

Warren: "The visceral response from people across the country who feel cheated ...by the vile practices of their insurance companies ...Violence is never the answer, but people can only be pushed so far."

Ocasio-Cortez called our health care system "depraved," continuing that "people interpret and feel and experience denied claims as an act of violence against them."

Warren and AOC are queens of America's left and are leading architects in building a mindset and culture in our country where the idea of personal responsibility does not exist. It's a worldview that says if you are suffering, if you don't have what you want, there must be someone or something to blame that is the source of your problems.

It's crucial to remember that Mangione wasn't some impoverished poor soul, as the Democratic politicians above appear to be speaking for. He came from a wealthy family, had an Ivy League education, and reportedly had a medical procedure that didn't work out. 

Let's also not forget how Taylor Lorenz, in a move that was low even for her, expressed joy, or at least had a lack of empathy, over Thompson's death. This was both in her published writing as well as when she was speaking to Piers Morgan. She was reportedly fired from Vox over such a garbage take, though she's denied that's the case. 

We'll see if such charges make Mangione even more of a martyr amongst the radical left.