85% of Americans Say Political Violence is Growing, But Democrats and Republicans Both Blame the ‘Other Side’

AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin

A whopping 85% of Americans said in a recent survey that political violence in the United States was growing, with Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly blaming the “other side.”

According to a Pew Research poll, which surveyed nearly three-and-a-half thousand Americans following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last month, 85% of those polled said that “politically motivated violence in this country” was on the increase. Just 3% of Americans said political violence was decreasing, while 12% said it had stayed roughly the same.

While Americans in total assigned equal blame to both left-wing and right-wing violence, this changed when broken down by political affiliation. 77% of Republicans considered left-wing violence to be a major problem, but right-wing violence to be only a minor problem or not a problem at all. Just 27% of Republicans considered right-wing violence to be a major problem.

Conversely, while 76% of Democrats considered right-wing violence to be a major problem, only 32% said the same about left-wing violence – even in the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination.

Twenty-eight percent of Democrats blamed the increase in political violence on the rhetoric and behavior of President Donald Trump, the Republican Party, the MAGA movement, and conservatives. Sixteen percent of Republicans blamed political violence on the rhetoric and behavior of the Democratic Party and liberals.

Democrats and Republicans were almost equally likely to blame partisan polarization, unwillingness to engage or understand the other side’s views, a growing acceptance of violence in general, and social media.

A Quinnipiac University poll published last month showed that the majority of Americans believed democracy was not working.