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8 months ago
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Seven-in-ten Americans are worried about the 2024 election spiraling into violence, a DailyMail.com/TIPP poll shows.
Fully 70 percent of respondents were worried about rising tensions in the White House race between President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump.
Another 26 percent said they were not concerned, and 4 percent said they were not sure.
Our survey of nearly 1,300 US adults comes at the start of Trump's trial in New York for hush money payments to a porn star — part of what the Republican frames as a political hit-job against him.
Nearly two-thirds of Republican voters say November's election could lead to bloodshed
Members of the Proud Boys gather to show support for Trump earlier this month, ahead of his first criminal trial, the hush money case with Stormy Daniels
It also follows reports of growing numbers of online threats of violence against lawmakers, as well as record-breaking gun sales.
Garen Wintemute, a University of California, Davis, expert on political violence, recently surveyed 8,600 Americans and found widespread support for political violence.
Some Americans have been 'arming up for anticipated civil conflict' in an election year, he told DailyMail.com.
A worrying number of gun owners were especially likely 'to see political violence as justified,' he said.
'They were more willing to engage in it, more willing to kill to advance political objectives, and more willing to organize a violent group.' he added.
The Biden Administration last week tightened the rules on running background checks on gun buyers, though it's not likely to make a dent in the country's massive number of gun owners
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the gun industry's trade group, recorded 1.8 million gun sales in December 2023 — a 1.6 percent increase over 2022.
There are other troubling signs.
There were 8,008 threats made against members of Congress in 2023 — a 7 percent increase from 2022, the US Capitol Police say.
There were 1.8 million gun sales in December 2023 — a 1.6 percent increase over 2022, says the National Shooting Sports Foundation
The war in Gaza is stirring passions in the US that could affect November's election. Pictured: Jewish Voice for Peace protestors block traffic outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
Police Assistant Chief Ashan Benedict warned of a 'very busy year for our special agents.'
Across the US, more than 40 percent of state legislators had been threatened in the three years to January, according to a Brennan Center for Justice survey released at that time.
In another study, the Brennan Center found that 66 percent of election workers were worried about safety while working.
The election in November is set to intensify feelings, just as it did the last time Biden and Trump faced off in 2020.
Back then, election officials faced harassment — and worse — as Republicans complained of voting irregularities.
On January 6, 2021, hundreds of Trump supporters violently stormed the US Capitol in a bid to stop the congressional certification of Biden's victory.
Our survey suggests that Americans are alarmed similar tensions could boil over this year too.
Respondents from all parts of the country and across all age groups were overwhelmingly fearful of a descent into violence.
Fully 80 percent of Democratic voters said they feared violence, but so did a sizeable 63 percent of Republicans.
The survey has a +/-2.8 percent error margin. It was carried out earlier this month by TIPP, which is noted for the accuracy of its polls.
English (US)