A new survey has found that one in five U.S. adults believe political violence is justified, at least in some circumstances.
The survey was conducted by a team of medical public health scientists from the University of California, Davis. The survey included the opinions of close to 9,000 people nationwide with a purpose of determining how far people will go when it comes to political discourse and their willingness for violence.
Researchers found that because of growing mistrust and alienation in democratic institutions, scientists feel that “large-scale violence in the near future is entirely plausible.”
In total, the survey found that 3% of the U.S. population believe political violence is usually or always justified. To put the number into perspective, 3% rounds out to 7 million people. Extrapolating the data from the entire survey to the number of people in the country, the 1-in-5 believe in political violence figure is equivalent to approximately 50 million people, according to researchers.
Twenty-five percent of respondents said the violence was justified if used “to preserve an American way of life based on western European traditions.”
However, those figures don’t represent the most alarming percentages in the survey, as 7.1% said they would kill a person to advance an important political goal. The research team says that percentage is equivalent to 18 million Americans.
The results come on the heels of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, several mass shootings, and the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The results show that Americans are more than ever worried for the country, with two-thirds sharing they feel the country was facing “a serious threat to democracy.” Additionally, 50.1% of respondents said they think the U.S. would confront another civil war in the next few years.
Still, Americans showed in the poll that they understand the importance of the government, with 89% saying they think it is extremely or very important the U.S. remains a democracy.
The survey was conducted for three weeks beginning on May 3, with 8,620 participants from across the country responding.
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