Americans Believe Harsh Political Rhetoric Is Fueling Violence, Poll Finds
Roughly two out of three Americans believe that the harsh rhetoric used in talking about politics is encouraging violence, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
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Washington:
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted after conservative political activist Charlie Kirk's killing reveals approximately two-thirds of Americans believe that inflammatory political rhetoric is encouraging violence in the country.
The poll, which concluded on Sunday, depicts a nation deeply concerned about partisan divisions and alarmed by the rise in political violence, including the June killings of a Democratic Minnesota legislator and her spouse.
According to the survey, 63% of respondents indicated that the current political discourse in America contributes "a lot" to encouraging violence. About 31% believed it provided "a little" encouragement to violence, while the remainder saw no connection or abstained from answering.
Republican President Donald Trump, who survived two assassination attempts last year, has responded aggressively to the incident, declaring on Thursday that "we have radical left lunatics out there and we just have to beat the hell out of them."
Kirk, whose organization Turning Point USA helped mobilize young voters for Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, was shot in the neck by a sniper while speaking at a Utah college campus. Despite claiming to promote civil dialogue, Kirk was known for controversial statements criticizing civil rights legislation and homosexuality.
The alleged murderer was apprehended a day after the shooting and is expected to be formally charged during his initial court appearance on Tuesday. He remains detained in a Utah jail facility.
The poll found that 79% of Americans believe people have become less accepting of differing viewpoints over the past two decades.
Approximately 71% of participants agreed with the statement "American society is broken," while 66% expressed concern about potential violence targeting people in their communities based on political beliefs.
Experts indicate political violence is on the rise. According to Mike Jensen, a University of Maryland researcher who tracks such incidents, the U.S. experienced approximately 150 politically motivated attacks in the first half of this year—nearly double the number recorded during the same period last year.
The poll revealed that Kirk's shooting garnered more public attention than the Minnesota killings. While 68% of respondents reported having seen, read, or heard "a lot" about Kirk's murder, only 26% said the same about the June killing of Democratic Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, and the wounding of Democratic Minnesota state Senator John Hoffman and his wife by a Christian nationalist.
The nationwide online poll surveyed 1,037 U.S. adults with an approximate margin of error of 3 percentage points.
(Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Scott Malone and Matthew Lewis)