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Almost a third of Republicans believe violence may be necessary to solve the problems the United States is facing today, according to a new national survey.
The poll by the nonprofit Public Religion Research Institute, released on Monday, finds that 30 percent of Republicans agreed with the statement: “Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.”
The findings are reflective of the continued impact of the post-presidential election events that fueled the deadly attack on the US Capitol on January 6.
More than 650 people have been criminally charged for their role in the insurrection, in which five people died.
Among Americans who believe the 2020 election was “stolen” from Donald Trump, 39 percent believe violence may be necessary.
The survey was conducted between September 16 and 29 through online interviews with a random sample of 2,508 adults living in all 50 states.
Nearly one in five of overall respondents said they agreed violence may be required to save America. Some 11 percent of Democrats and 17 percent of independents said they hold the same belief.
“It is an alarming finding,” Robert Jones, CEO and founder of PRRI, told Yahoo News. “I’ve been doing this a while, for decades, and it’s not the kind of finding that as a sociologist, a public opinion pollster, that you’re used to seeing.”
He said the findings underscore “the significant and rapidly increasing polarization in the United States.”
The PRRI poll is not the first survey to discover an apparent inclination for the use of violence as a means to settle political differences in the US.
In February, a survey by the American Enterprise Institute found that 29 percent of voters believed that “if elected leaders will not protect America, the people must do it themselves, even if it requires violent actions.”
A higher share of Republicans, 39 percent, said they agreed with that statement. Nearly a third of independents and 17 percent of Democrats said they believed violence might be required.
