Four in five Americans fear country is sliding into chaos: Poll
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Eighty per cent of voters - including similar shares of Democrats and Republicans - said they agreed with a statement that "the country is spiralling out of the control".
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON – Americans fear that their country is spiralling out of control following an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, with worries growing that the Nov 5 election could spark more political violence, a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on July 16 found.
The two-day poll found Republican presidential candidate Trump opening a marginal lead among registered voters – 43 per cent to 41 per cent – over Democratic US President Joe Biden, an advantage that was within the poll’s margin of error of 3 percentage points, suggesting that the attempt on Trump’s life
But 80 per cent of voters – including similar shares of Democrats and Republicans – said they agreed with a statement that “the country is spiralling out of control”.
The poll, which was conducted online, surveyed 1,202 US adults nationwide, including 992 registered voters.
Trump narrowly avoided death on July 13 when a would-be assassin’s bullet grazed his ear as he spoke at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Blood trickled across his face and he defiantly pumped his fist in the air, mouthing the words “Fight! Fight! Fight!” as he was rushed offstage.
A rally attendee was slain and two others seriously injured.
The shooting brought back memories of turbulent political periods such as the 1960s, when Democratic president John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, followed by the killing of Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.
Some 84 per cent of voters in the poll said they were concerned that extremists would commit acts of violence after the election, an increase from the results of a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in May that showed 74 per cent of voters having that fear.
Fears of political violence became more prominent in the US after thousands of Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, in a bid to overturn Trump’s election loss to Mr Biden.
Four people died on the day of the attack, and one Capitol Police officer who fought against the rioters died the next day.
Americans said they feared violence, and few condoned it. Just 5 per cent of respondents said it was acceptable for someone in their political party to commit violence to achieve a political goal, down from 12 per cent in a Reuters/Ipsos poll from June 2023.
The attempt on Trump’s life has dominated media headlines and fuelled discussion among some of his conservative Christian supporters that he was protected by God.
In the Reuters/Ipsos poll, 65 per cent of registered Republicans said Trump was “favoured by divine providence or God’s will”. Eleven per cent of Democrats agreed.
The US stands out among rich nations for its embrace of religion, with evangelical Christians largely aligned with the Republican Party in recent decades.
Some 77 per cent of Americans surveyed in 2022 said they believed in God, compared with 56 per cent of Canadians and 39 per cent of British respondents, according to a poll by the Gallup International Association. REUTERS
