Nearly a quarter of Americans (23%) agree that “because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country,” according to the survey. This is up from 15% in 2021.
In a statement, PRRI researchers say they have asked about this in “eight separate surveys since March 2021.” They said that “this is the first time support for political violence has peaked above 20%” in their survey results.
While Americans across the political spectrum feel democracy is at risk next year, support for political violence runs mostly along party lines.
Currently one-third of Republicans support violence as a means to save the country, compared with 22% of independents and 13% of Democrats, the survey found. More specifically, Republicans who have favorable views of Donald Trump were found to be “nearly three times as likely as Republicans who have unfavorable views of Trump” to support political violence.
Compared to past surveys, researchers also found an uptick in support for conspiracy theories among Americans — specifically QAnon. According to PRRI, there has been a significant increase in “QAnon believers (from 14% to 23%),” as well as a “a decrease in QAnon rejecters,” since 2021. However, Republicans are still twice as likely as Democrats to agree with the core beliefs of the QAnon conspiracy theory.
If you don’t vote then the politicians don’t care. They’ll see your ambivalence as a sign that you think things are fine. Also look more at local elections more than big ones. They help more than you think. Primaries are where you’re actually allow people left of 1980’s Republicans get elected. There have been elections where I’ve been one of the 10 people voting. It really isn’t hard to change elections if you’re doing it right.
Also aren’t most of the book burnings happening in multiple states because of just 10 people. Knowing how to vote and apply pressure is better than making some politician 20 minutes late because you pulled out a valve stem core.