Poll: Growing number of US adults support the use of political violence

Support for political violence and concern over the state of democracy are both on the rise, with 75 percent of people in the United States believing the future of democracy is at risk in the next presidential election, according to a report released Wednesday by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution.

Twenty-three percent of US adults said they believe “true American patriots may have to resort to violence to save the country,” versus 15 percent in 2021. One-third of White evangelical Protestants support the idea, significantly more than any other religious group.

The findings appear in the 14th edition of PRRI’s annual American Values Survey, in which 2,525 US adults were asked their views on economic and cultural issues ahead of the 2024 election.