A large study confirms one in five Americans believes violence motivated by political reasons is—at least sometimes—justified.
that “The traditional American way of life is disappearing so fast that we may have to use force to save it.” Barbara Walter, a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego, who was also not involved in the study, agrees. But she suspects the survey responses overrepresent the number of Americans who would be willing to turn to violence because, she says, surveys tend to overstate what people actually think.
Wintemute and colleagues found that conspiracy theories, some rooted in racism, are helping shape views about political violence. They found roughly two in five adults agreed with the white nationalist “great replacement theory,” or the idea that native-born white voters are being replaced by immigrants for electoral gains. And one in five respondents believed the false QAnon conspiracy theory that U.S. institutions are controlled by an elite group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles.
Both Braddock and Kleinfeld wish the new study responses were broken down by partisan affiliation because previous surveys show engaging in violence is much more prevalent in right-leaning individuals. “That is a key oversight,” Braddock says. “If readiness for civil war is coming from one side [and not in both], we need to know that.
To reduce the threat of political violence, Braddock says, the first step is to call out the disinformation online and in right-wing media, some of which is taken directly from extremist propaganda. “We need to call that out for what it is before we can begin to address the problems it is causing.” Regulating social media to avoid “incendiary” misinformation from spreading could also help, Walter says.
from engaging in violence. “Now’s the time to take this seriously and not put our heads in the sand,” Kleinfeld says.
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