GordonGekko
Footballguy
Direct Headline: Partisanship and Violence
Our survey found that Republicans and Democrats are not only extremely distrustful of each other, but that majorities believe that people on the other side of the aisle are immoral and “want to harm people who disagree with them.” Sixty-three percent of Republicans say Democrats are a threat to the country, while 67% of Democrats believe the same about the opposing party. While each side views the other as similarly threatening, Republicans rank “extremists in the Democratic Party” as the most pressing threat facing the country, while Democrats believe the top three threats, in descending order, are Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and extremists in the Republican Party....Over half of Republicans say the country seems headed toward a civil war in the near future, compared to 39% of Democrats....
Approval Of Assassinating A Politician: 44% Young Democratic Men / 34% Young Republican Men
Approval Of Threatening A Politician: 40% Young Democratic Men / 46% Young Republican Men
Approval Of Participating In Violent Political Revolution: 42% Young Democratic Men / 45% Young Republican Men
...When we asked people if they would approve of specific violent action, approval declined but was still worryingly substantial. When we asked, for example, whether people approved of threatening a politician who is “harming the country or our democracy,” 24% approved. When we asked if people approved of assassinating a politician described in the same way, 1 in 5 approved. Levels of approval for both scenarios were slightly higher for Democrats than Republicans, driven largely by the approval of younger Democratic men....Two-thirds of Americans do not support “participating in a political revolution even if it is violent in its ends.” The majority of people who do support were under the age of 50....Twenty percent of survey respondents think threatening a politician is acceptable. The majority of supporters were under 50...Nearly a quarter of respondents approved of assassinating “a politician who is harming our country or democracy.” Younger people were more likely to approve....
... But we do currently live in a moment when political leaders are leaning into violent rhetoric, meaning the social sanctions against violence could be eroding and, in the process, creating an atmosphere more conducive to acts of political violence.....
From April 18-25, 2022, Tulchin Research conducted a nationwide survey of 1,500 adults ages 18+ which was conducted via online panel. The margin of error for the full 1,500 sample of adults is +/- 2.53%.
SPLC June 01, 2022
https://www.splcenter.org/news/2022...reat-replacement-hard-right-ideas#methodology
Direct Headline: Opinion | Americans Increasingly Believe Violence is Justified if the Other Side Wins
At the presidential debate this week, the Republican candidate voiced his concern about political violence—left-wing political violence. And the Democratic candidate likewise voiced concern about political violence—right-wing political violence.
They were both right.
...This growing acceptance of the possibility of violence is a bipartisan movement. Our data shows that the willingness of Democrats and Republicans alike to justify violence as a way to achieve political goals has essentially been rising in lockstep.... Late last year, we noticed an uptick in the number of respondents saying they would condone violence by their own political party, and we decided to combine our data sets to get as much information as possible on this worrisome trend. We were also monitoring another question: Would you condone violence if the other party’s candidate wins the presidential election?
While the pool of respondents between our datasets is slightly different, our questions have had the same wording. Here’s what we’ve found:
• Among Americans who identify as Democrat or Republican, 1 in 3 now believe that violence could be justified to advance their parties’ political goals—a substantial increase over the last three years.
• In September, 44 percent of Republicans and 41 percent of Democrats said there would be at least “a little” justification for violence if the other party’s nominee wins the election. Those figures are both up from June, when 35 percent of Republicans and 37 percent of Democrats expressed the same sentiment.
• Similarly, 36 percent of Republicans and 33 percent of Democrats said it is at least “a little” justified for their side “to use violence in advancing political goals”—up from 30 percent of both Republicans and Democrats in June.
• There has been an even larger increase in the share of both Democrats and Republicans who believe there would be either “a lot” or “a great deal” of justification for violence if their party were to lose in November. The share of Republicans seeing substantial justification for violence if their side loses jumped from 15 percent in June to 20 percent in September, while the share of Democrats jumped from 16 percent to 19 percent.
• These numbers are even higher among the most ideological partisans. Of Democrats who identify as “very liberal,” 26 percent said there would be “a great deal” of justification for violence if their candidate loses the presidency compared to 7 percent of those identifying as simply “liberal.” Of Republicans who identify as “very conservative,” 16 percent said they believe there would be “a great deal” of justification for violence if the GOP candidate loses compared to 7 percent of those identifying as simply “conservative.”
This means the ideological extremes of each party are two to four times more apt to see violence as justified than their party’s mainstream members.
...Viewed in this light, the events of this summer are especially worrying. Competing protesters from the right and left have clashed violently in Portland, Ore.; Kenosha, Wis.; and Louisville. Left-wing extremists have repeatedly laid siege to federal buildings in Portland, and on several occasions, armed right-wing protesters entered the State Capitol in Michigan....
...Everyone in a position of leadership in a democracy—whether in a neighborhood organization, a municipality, a political party, the Congress or the White House—has an obligation to renounce violence and explicitly dissuade their followers from turning to violent tactics or threats. Further, political leaders have a solemn responsibility to uphold and urge their followers to adhere to the essential norms of democracy, including the principles that the voters should freely decide who shall rule, and all valid votes should be counted toward that decision....
Opinion by Larry Diamond, Lee Drutman, Tod Lindberg, Nathan P. Kalmoe and Lilliana Mason 10/09/2020 06:00 PM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/01/political-violence-424157
***********
Approve of assassinating a politician who is perceived to be harming our country and our democracy?
44% of Younger Democratic Men
32% of Younger Democratic Women
34% of Younger Republican Men
40% of Younger Republican Women
Approve of threatening a politician who is perceived to be harming our country and our democracy?
40% of Younger Democratic Men
25% of Younger Democratic Women
46% of Younger Republican Men
31% of Younger Republican Women
Approve of potentially participating in a violent political revolution?
42% of Younger Democratic Men
37% of Younger Democratic Women
45% of Younger Republican Men
30% of Younger Republican Women
**********
This is all pretty ugly here and these numbers are disturbing. You have a tanked economy, massive inflation, no Border security, a pandemic, mass looting and rioting in every major city in America during the 2020/2021 "civil unrest", the activist complicit MSM stoking the flames as propaganda arms as newly formed "state media", a breached Capitol, cooked bail reform and widespread lawlessness, a record number of Americans buying firearms ( close to 50 million sold in the past two and a half years) and just recently an attempt to assassinate a SCOTUS Justice.
Throw in non stop inciting political rhetoric
People are going to start dying and people are going to start getting killed. I see it as inevitable at this point. Political assassinations in America will start to become, tragically, the new normal for our society.
Where do you see this issue headed?
Do you think anything can stop the current trajectory?
As political violence grows, will the entire gun control/gun law/gun regulation debate change?
Do you disagree with those who approve of political assassinations in this poll? Why or why not?
I'll leave this here for others to discuss.
Our survey found that Republicans and Democrats are not only extremely distrustful of each other, but that majorities believe that people on the other side of the aisle are immoral and “want to harm people who disagree with them.” Sixty-three percent of Republicans say Democrats are a threat to the country, while 67% of Democrats believe the same about the opposing party. While each side views the other as similarly threatening, Republicans rank “extremists in the Democratic Party” as the most pressing threat facing the country, while Democrats believe the top three threats, in descending order, are Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and extremists in the Republican Party....Over half of Republicans say the country seems headed toward a civil war in the near future, compared to 39% of Democrats....
Approval Of Assassinating A Politician: 44% Young Democratic Men / 34% Young Republican Men
Approval Of Threatening A Politician: 40% Young Democratic Men / 46% Young Republican Men
Approval Of Participating In Violent Political Revolution: 42% Young Democratic Men / 45% Young Republican Men
...When we asked people if they would approve of specific violent action, approval declined but was still worryingly substantial. When we asked, for example, whether people approved of threatening a politician who is “harming the country or our democracy,” 24% approved. When we asked if people approved of assassinating a politician described in the same way, 1 in 5 approved. Levels of approval for both scenarios were slightly higher for Democrats than Republicans, driven largely by the approval of younger Democratic men....Two-thirds of Americans do not support “participating in a political revolution even if it is violent in its ends.” The majority of people who do support were under the age of 50....Twenty percent of survey respondents think threatening a politician is acceptable. The majority of supporters were under 50...Nearly a quarter of respondents approved of assassinating “a politician who is harming our country or democracy.” Younger people were more likely to approve....
... But we do currently live in a moment when political leaders are leaning into violent rhetoric, meaning the social sanctions against violence could be eroding and, in the process, creating an atmosphere more conducive to acts of political violence.....
From April 18-25, 2022, Tulchin Research conducted a nationwide survey of 1,500 adults ages 18+ which was conducted via online panel. The margin of error for the full 1,500 sample of adults is +/- 2.53%.
SPLC June 01, 2022
https://www.splcenter.org/news/2022...reat-replacement-hard-right-ideas#methodology
Direct Headline: Opinion | Americans Increasingly Believe Violence is Justified if the Other Side Wins
At the presidential debate this week, the Republican candidate voiced his concern about political violence—left-wing political violence. And the Democratic candidate likewise voiced concern about political violence—right-wing political violence.
They were both right.
...This growing acceptance of the possibility of violence is a bipartisan movement. Our data shows that the willingness of Democrats and Republicans alike to justify violence as a way to achieve political goals has essentially been rising in lockstep.... Late last year, we noticed an uptick in the number of respondents saying they would condone violence by their own political party, and we decided to combine our data sets to get as much information as possible on this worrisome trend. We were also monitoring another question: Would you condone violence if the other party’s candidate wins the presidential election?
While the pool of respondents between our datasets is slightly different, our questions have had the same wording. Here’s what we’ve found:
• Among Americans who identify as Democrat or Republican, 1 in 3 now believe that violence could be justified to advance their parties’ political goals—a substantial increase over the last three years.
• In September, 44 percent of Republicans and 41 percent of Democrats said there would be at least “a little” justification for violence if the other party’s nominee wins the election. Those figures are both up from June, when 35 percent of Republicans and 37 percent of Democrats expressed the same sentiment.
• Similarly, 36 percent of Republicans and 33 percent of Democrats said it is at least “a little” justified for their side “to use violence in advancing political goals”—up from 30 percent of both Republicans and Democrats in June.
• There has been an even larger increase in the share of both Democrats and Republicans who believe there would be either “a lot” or “a great deal” of justification for violence if their party were to lose in November. The share of Republicans seeing substantial justification for violence if their side loses jumped from 15 percent in June to 20 percent in September, while the share of Democrats jumped from 16 percent to 19 percent.
• These numbers are even higher among the most ideological partisans. Of Democrats who identify as “very liberal,” 26 percent said there would be “a great deal” of justification for violence if their candidate loses the presidency compared to 7 percent of those identifying as simply “liberal.” Of Republicans who identify as “very conservative,” 16 percent said they believe there would be “a great deal” of justification for violence if the GOP candidate loses compared to 7 percent of those identifying as simply “conservative.”
This means the ideological extremes of each party are two to four times more apt to see violence as justified than their party’s mainstream members.
...Viewed in this light, the events of this summer are especially worrying. Competing protesters from the right and left have clashed violently in Portland, Ore.; Kenosha, Wis.; and Louisville. Left-wing extremists have repeatedly laid siege to federal buildings in Portland, and on several occasions, armed right-wing protesters entered the State Capitol in Michigan....
...Everyone in a position of leadership in a democracy—whether in a neighborhood organization, a municipality, a political party, the Congress or the White House—has an obligation to renounce violence and explicitly dissuade their followers from turning to violent tactics or threats. Further, political leaders have a solemn responsibility to uphold and urge their followers to adhere to the essential norms of democracy, including the principles that the voters should freely decide who shall rule, and all valid votes should be counted toward that decision....
Opinion by Larry Diamond, Lee Drutman, Tod Lindberg, Nathan P. Kalmoe and Lilliana Mason 10/09/2020 06:00 PM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/01/political-violence-424157
***********
Approve of assassinating a politician who is perceived to be harming our country and our democracy?
44% of Younger Democratic Men
32% of Younger Democratic Women
34% of Younger Republican Men
40% of Younger Republican Women
Approve of threatening a politician who is perceived to be harming our country and our democracy?
40% of Younger Democratic Men
25% of Younger Democratic Women
46% of Younger Republican Men
31% of Younger Republican Women
Approve of potentially participating in a violent political revolution?
42% of Younger Democratic Men
37% of Younger Democratic Women
45% of Younger Republican Men
30% of Younger Republican Women
**********
This is all pretty ugly here and these numbers are disturbing. You have a tanked economy, massive inflation, no Border security, a pandemic, mass looting and rioting in every major city in America during the 2020/2021 "civil unrest", the activist complicit MSM stoking the flames as propaganda arms as newly formed "state media", a breached Capitol, cooked bail reform and widespread lawlessness, a record number of Americans buying firearms ( close to 50 million sold in the past two and a half years) and just recently an attempt to assassinate a SCOTUS Justice.
Throw in non stop inciting political rhetoric
People are going to start dying and people are going to start getting killed. I see it as inevitable at this point. Political assassinations in America will start to become, tragically, the new normal for our society.
Where do you see this issue headed?
Do you think anything can stop the current trajectory?
As political violence grows, will the entire gun control/gun law/gun regulation debate change?
Do you disagree with those who approve of political assassinations in this poll? Why or why not?
I'll leave this here for others to discuss.
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