In school, we were taught, or most of us at least, that violence is not OK. However, a new poll has found that approximately 25% of Americans say it's sometimes OK to use violence against the government.
Along with nearly a quarter of Americans thinking that violence against the government is OK, 1 in 10 also feel that violence, in general, is justified "right now."
The poll, which is part of a report by The COVID States Project, asked 23,000 people nationwide if it is "ever justifiable to engage in violent protest against the government?"
In response to this question, nearly 1 in 4 answered with either "definitely" or "probably." For those who responded, a similar percentage of conservatives and liberals agreed.
According to NPR, there have been several reports in recent months to find that people, now more than before, are more likely to contemplate violent protests.
The co-director of The COVID State Project, David Lazer, shared that these results are not surprising when looking at American history.
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"You know, we begin with the American Revolution against an illegitimate government, and so we are, in a sense, taught from grade school that it is at some points in history justifiable to engage in violent protest," Lazer said.
According to the poll, those most likely to say violent protests against the government are justifiable right now are Republicans and ideological conservatives. The number rises looking only at Republican men to 1 in 5.
However, some researchers have noted that polls can possibly overstate American support for political violence, NPR reported.
Sean Westwood, a Dartmouth College professor of government, shared with NPR that he is working on a paper that would address the errors in measurement that exist when people are questioned about political violence.
Westwood also said that survey questions do not always capture context.
"When trying to measure violence, there's this tendency to try to be as general as possible to try and capture as much support as possible," Westwood said to NPR.
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