Four in five Americans fear the country is descending into chaos: polls

Washington:

Americans fear their country is out of control following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, and concerns are growing that the Nov. 5 election could trigger more political violence, a Reuters/Ipsos poll concluded on Tuesday found.

The two-day poll found that Republican presidential candidate Trump opened a marginal lead among registered voters – 43% to 41% – over Democratic US President Joe Biden, a lead that was within the 3 percentage point margin of error. of the poll, suggesting Trump’s attempt. life did not provoke a major change in voter sentiment.

But 80% of voters – including similar percentages of Democrats and Republicans – said they agreed with the statement that “the country is getting out of control”. The survey, conducted online, interviewed 1,202 U.S. adults across the country, including 992 registered voters.

Trump narrowly avoided death on Saturday when a would-be assassin’s bullet struck his ear while he was speaking at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Blood ran down his face and he raised his fist defiantly, uttering the words “Fight! Fight! Fight!” as he was rushed off stage. One rally participant was killed and two others seriously injured.

The shooting brought back memories of turbulent political periods, such as the 1960s, when Democratic President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, followed by the assassination of Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.

Some 84% of voters in the poll said they were concerned about the possibility of extremists committing acts of violence after the election, an increase from the results of a Reuters/Ipsos poll carried out in May, which showed that 74% of voters had this fear. .

Fears of political violence became more prominent in America after thousands of Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn Trump’s election defeat to Biden. Four people died the day of the attack and a Capitol Police officer who fought against protesters died the next day.

Although Americans said they feared violence, few tolerated it. Only 5% of respondents said it was acceptable for someone from their political party to commit violence to achieve a political objective, below the 12% recorded in a June 2023 Reuters/Ipsos poll.

The attempt on Trump’s life dominated media headlines and fueled discussion among some of his conservative Christian supporters that he was protected by God.

In the Reuters/Ipsos poll, 65% of registered Republicans said Trump was “favored by divine providence or the will of God.” Eleven percent of Democrats agreed.

The United States stands out among wealthy nations for its adherence to religion, with evangelical Christians largely aligned with the Republican Party in recent decades. About 77% of Americans surveyed in 2021 said they believe in God, compared with 56% of Canadians and 39% of British respondents, according to a Gallup International Association poll.

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