‘A threat to democracy’: Survey finds 30% of Republicans think they may need violence to ‘save our country’

The term "fragile democracy" has often been used by political science experts in connection with developing countries, but following the United States' 2020 election, former President Donald Trump's attempted coup and the January 6, 2021 insurrection, it is also a phrase being used more and more in connection with the U.S. And a new poll from the Public Religion Research Institute underscores that fragility: almost one in three Republicans, according to PRRI, are open to the possibility of political violence.

PRRI found that 30% of Republicans, compared to 17% of independents and 11% of Democrats, believe that "true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country." That number climbs to 40% among consumers of far-right media outlets such as Newsmax TV and One America News Network. And 97% of Americans who consume such outlets, according to PRRI, believe the 2020 election was stolen from Trump because of widespread voter fraud.

PRRI also found a lot of support for QAnon on the far right. One in six Americans, according to the survey, buy into QAnon's ludicrous conspiracy theory that the U.S. government has been taken over by a cabal of Satanists, pedophiles and child sex traffickers.

PRRI founder Robert Jones said, "I'm not an alarmist by nature, but I'm deeply disturbed by these numbers. I think that we really have to take them seriously as a threat to democracy."

The Hill's Reid Wilson, discussing the PRRI poll, notes, "The rising acceptance of political violence is playing out in courtrooms in Washington and across the country as rioters from the January 6 insurrection face charges and, increasingly, prison sentences for their roles in the mayhem. One man who plotted to kidnap Michigan's governor was sentenced to six years in jail in August. On Thursday, two members of a neo-Nazi group were sentenced to nine years in prison for a scheme to attack a rally of gun control supporters in Richmond, VA."