Increasing number of Americans say violence may be needed to get U.S. 'back on track': poll

While a majority of U.S. citizens continue to maintain that violence won’t help fix the problems facing their nation, an increasing minority are beginning to disagree, according to a new poll.

A Marist Institute of Public Opinion poll of 1,477 adults conducted in partnership with NPR and PBS News last week found that three in 10 of those agreed (19 per cent) or strongly agreed (11 per cent) with the notion that “Americans may have to resort to violence in order to get the country back on track.”

That’s up 11 points from polling conducted by the groups in March 2024 when respondents were posed the same question.

What’s more, the increase is being fed primarily by people who identify as Democrats, not Republicans. In the 2024 poll, only 12 per cent of Dems agreed. This fall, that number rose to 28 per cent.

Republicans, it should be noted, aren’t offering a more full-throated endorsement of the idea, as only 31 per cent agreed, which is only three points up from 2024’s polling.

All that said, a full 70 per cent disagree with violence as a solution, more than half (36 per cent) of whom feel strongly about it.

As for the country’s trajectory, 62 per cent — up from 54 per cent in March 2025 — said it’s going wrong. The partisan divide is stark, however, among Democrats, who predominantly say it’s going the wrong way (90 per cent), and Republicans who support the direction (78 per cent).

Marist does note that “22 per cent of Republicans think the nation is moving in the wrong direction, up from 13 per cent in March.”

The results came in the weeks following the Conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk’s assassination in Utah, the separate murders of two Democratic Minnesota lawmakers and as overall tensions between those on the right and the left spilled over into U.S. city streets.

To that end, the pollster also asked about “politically-motivated” violence and found that more than three-quarters (77 per cent) feel it’s a major problem. Republicans (84 per cent) were more likely to see it as a major problem than Democrats (72 per cent). A mere four per cent don’t see it as a problem whatsoever.

People were split 49 to 50 per cent, however, on which is more concerning — political violence against public officials or against protesters. But the divide was much clearer through a political lens, with Republicans more concerned with the former while the Democrats fret more about the latter.

That partisan divide was evident again when respondents were asked whether it was more important to control gun violence than it is to protect gun owner rights.

Nine in 10 Democrats say curbing the violence wrought by firearms is most important where as almost three-quarters of Republicans (73 per cent) feel protecting gun rights supersedes that.

On the tangential topic of deploying the National Guard to cities, something U.S. President Donald Trump has done in response to protests against his administration, a net 52 per cent support or strongly support the move in effort to reduce crime and to support local law enforcement.

Here, too, a partisan divide exists between Republicans, who are largely supportive (89 per cent), and Democrats, who are mostly opposed (76 per cent).

Respondents were also asked about free speech, with nearly eight in 10 (79 per cent) feeling as though the U.S. as a whole “has gone too far in restricting it.” While Democrats were most likely to agree with the sentiment (88 per cent), even 64 per cent of Republicans shared that feeling.

Only 15 per cent nationally, and 22 per cent of Republicans, think Washington should have a major role in that decision. Moreover, Congress has more support for making determination on free speech than does the office of the U.S. President, even among Republicans.

The nationwide poll was conducted by phone, text and online and has a 3.1 percentage point margin. Full survey data is available online .

• Raymond J. de Souza: Political violence in America is cause to weep
• Christopher Dummitt: Charlie Kirk murder an example of how cancel culture leads to violence

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