America on EDGE: Voters are overwhelmingly concerned about violence disrupting the 2024 election and reveal their fears of turmoil in a shocking Daily Mail poll
Seven in 10 Americans are concerned about the 2024 election turning into violence, according to a DailyMail.com/TIPP poll.
More than 70 percent of respondents were concerned about rising tensions in the White House race between President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump.
Another 26 percent said they weren’t concerned, and 4 percent said they weren’t sure.
Our survey of nearly 1,300 American adults comes at the start of Trump’s trial in New York over hush money payments to a porn star – part of what Republicans see as a political blow against him.
Nearly two-thirds of Republican voters say the November election could lead to bloodshed
Members of the Proud Boys gathered earlier this month to show their support for Trump ahead of his first criminal trial, the Stormy Daniels hush-money case
It also follows reports of a growing number of online threats of violence against lawmakers, as well as record-breaking gun sales.
Garen Wintemute, an expert on political violence at the University of California, Davis, recently surveyed 8,600 Americans and found broad support for political violence.
Some Americans have “armed themselves for expected civil conflict” in an election year, he told DailyMail.com.
A worrying number of gun owners in particular would “view political violence as justified,” he said.
“They were more willing to engage, more willing to kill to achieve political objectives, and more willing to organize a violent group.” he added.
The Biden administration last week tightened rules for conducting background checks on gun buyers, although this is unlikely to make a dent in the country’s huge number of gun owners.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the gun industry’s trade group, recorded 1.8 million gun sales in December 2023 – a 1.6 percent increase from 2022.
There are even more disturbing signs.
There were 8,008 threats made against members of Congress in 2023 — a 7 percent increase from 2022, U.S. Capitol Police say.
There were 1.8 million gun sales in December 2023 – up 1.6 percent from 2022, says the National Shooting Sports Foundation
The war in Gaza is stirring up emotions in the US that could influence the November elections. Pictured: Protesters from the Jewish Voice for Peace block traffic outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
Police Assistant Chief Ashan Benedict warned of a “very busy year for our special officers.”
Across the US, more than 40 percent of state lawmakers had been threatened in the three years through January, a Brennan Center for Justice study published at the time found.
Another survey found that 66 percent of election workers were concerned about safety on the job.
The November election will intensify feelings, just like the last time Biden and Trump faced off in 2020.
At the time, election officials faced intimidation — and worse — when Republicans complained about voting irregularities.
On January 6, 2021, hundreds of Trump supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress’ approval of Biden’s victory.
Our research shows that Americans are concerned that similar tensions could boil over this year.
Respondents from all parts of the country and all age groups overwhelmingly feared a descent into violence.
More than 80 percent of Democratic voters said they were afraid of violence, but so did a significant 63 percent of Republicans.
The research has a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percent. It was conducted earlier this month by TIPP, which is known for the accuracy of its polls.