More than one in four Republicans and nearly one in three Republicans with a positive opinion of former President Donald Trump say political violence is acceptable, a new study finds.
According to a study by the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonprofit research organization, while only one in six Americans supports political violence, that figure is much higher among Republicans than among Democrats.
The poll comes during the first presidential election since violent rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol in a failed attempt to overturn the election Trump lost to President Joe Biden – and two months after Trump was shot in the ear in an assassination attempt.
“This is not just a partisan issue,” said Robert Jones, the organization’s president. “It’s a Trump and MAGA issue. It’s a Trumpian takeover of the Republican Party.”
Anna Kelly, spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said in a statement: “President Trump and Republicans stand for safer communities and keeping violent criminals off the streets.”
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Violence and authoritarianism are closely linked
According to the poll, 27 percent of Republicans and 32 percent of Republicans who favor Trump agree that “patriots may need to use violence to save our country.” Only 10 percent of independents and 8 percent of Democrats said the same.
Jones linked this support for political violence to support for authoritarian regimes. The study found that 67 percent of Republicans scored high on an authoritarian scale, including 75 percent of pro-Trump Republicans, compared with 35 percent of independents and 28 percent of Democrats.
To measure authoritarianism, the study’s participants were asked whether they agreed with four statements, including whether the country should “do what the authorities tell us and get rid of the ‘bad apples'” and whether the country needs to “put some tough leaders in power and silence the troublemakers who spread bad ideas.”
“Even among those Americans who identify themselves as Republicans but have a negative opinion of Trump, they are far less likely to have the kind of authoritarian orientation that involves support for political violence,” Jones said.
Regarding political violence specifically, 24 percent of Republicans and 27 percent of pro-Trump Republicans say, “If the 2024 presidential election is rigged by voter fraud, Americans must ensure that the legitimate president takes office, even if it requires violent action.” Only 15 percent of independents and 10 percent of Democrats agreed with this statement.
The right to use armed citizens as election observers to ensure fair presidential elections also received broad support, with 24 percent of Republicans supporting this demand, compared to 28 percent of Trump-supporting Republicans and 10 percent of independents and Democrats.
Candidates and major political parties have long recruited and trained poll watchers to be their eyes and ears, but the poll watchers are not armed. The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University warned that poll watch is vulnerable to abuse. In 2022, Bloomberg reported that armed individuals were showing up at polling places.
“A powder keg of a country”
Robert Pape, a professor at the University of Chicago who tracks views on political violence, told USA TODAY that there has been a sustained trend since 2021 of millions of people supporting violence to achieve political goals.
“The basic fact is that we have been a powder keg of a country for years and we are moving toward not only the most contentious election of our lifetimes, but probably the most dangerous of our lifetimes,” Pape said.
In June, a University of Chicago poll found that 7 percent of American adults, including nearly 12 percent of Republicans, support the use of violence to bring Trump back to the presidency. On the other hand, 10 percent of Americans and about 12 percent of Democrats support the use of violence to prevent Trump’s re-election.
“The real danger starts on November 6,” Pape said. “Most people are focused on November 5 right now, but the real danger here probably doesn’t start until November 6.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: One in four Republicans supports political violence, study finds
