A new Public Religion Research Institute survey finds 32 percent of Trump fans and more than a 27 percent of Republican respondents overall say political violence is acceptable if they believe an election was “compromised,” USA Today reports on a finding that’s probably lowballing it if we’re being really honest here. There’s gotta be some “Bradley Effect” type thing going on here.
Just 10 percent of independents and 8 percent of Dem respondents said they agree that “patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.” PRRI President Robert Jones said the results are clear. “This is not just a partisan issue. It’s a Trump and MAGA issue. It’s the kind of Trumpian takeover of the Republican Party,” said Jones and maybe the both-sidesy media should kind of take a fucking hint from what an actual professional political scientist is saying here.
Jones linked support for political violence to support for authoritarianism. The study found that 67 percent of Republicans scored high on an authoritarian scale devised by PRRI, including 75 percent of Trump-favoring Republicans, compared to 35 percent of independents and 28 percent of Democrats. “Even those Americans who see themselves as a Republican but have an unfavorable view of Trump, they are far less likely to have this kind of authoritarian orientation that goes along with support for political violence,” said Jones. Meaning don’t feel shy about calling them Nazis.