Overview
- The national online survey was conducted Oct. 18–21 among 2,051 U.S. adults with a reported margin of error of ±2.2 percentage points.
- Fifty-five percent of respondents expect political violence to increase in coming years, and most say an assassination of a political candidate is likely within five years.
- Agreement on the likelihood of an assassination spans party lines, including 51% of Trump voters and 53% of those who voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris.
- Overall, 24% say political violence can sometimes be justified, with support rising to more than one in three among people under 45 and dropping sharply among older Americans.
- Politico reported little partisan divide on justifying violence, and an expert quoted in the coverage warned that support for such actions is moving into the mainstream.