Poll: Agreement that political violence may be necessary to right the country grows

Three-in-10 people now say that Americans may have to resort to violence in order to get the country back on track, according to a new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll.

To be sure, a strong majority disagree with that (70%), but the 30% who now say violence may be necessary is up 11 points since April 2024, an increase driven by Democrats. Eighteen months ago, just 12% of Democrats agreed; now, 28% do.

But, still, a slightly higher percentage of Republicans — 31% — also say Americans may have to resort to violence. That’s also up 3 points since last year. (Independents have also increased from 18% to 25%.)

The findings come after a string of high-profile acts of political violence, including the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last month.

Three-quarters of people — 77% — described political violence as a major concern. Respondents are split, however, on whether they’re more concerned with violence toward public officials (49%) or protesters (50%).

Here, there’s a very sharp political divide — 70% of Democrats said protesters, 74% of Republicans said public officials.

The survey of more than 1,400 people nationwide was conducted over five days last week. Respondents were reached in various ways, by phone, cell and landline, online and via text in both English and Spanish. It has a +/- 3.1 percentage point margin of error, meaning results could be roughly 3 points higher or lower.

The survey was wide-ranging, showing that:

• most think the country is going in the wrong direction;
• a majority believes the country has gone too far in restricting free speech;
• there’s a sharp partisan divide on whether the National Guard should be deployed to cities to curb crime;
• the overwhelming majority believe children should be vaccinated before being allowed to go to school;
• controlling gun violence is more important than protecting gun rights;
• and the files on the late financier/convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein should be released.

Americans still sour on direction of the country, but partisanship is notable

By a 62%-to-38% margin, respondents said they believe the country is headed in the wrong direction.

But, with Donald Trump as president, Republicans are far more positive about the direction of the country compared to last year when Joe Biden was president.

Consider that in an October 2024 New York Times/Siena poll that asked a similar question, 9 in 10 Republicans said the country was headed in the wrong direction. Now, almost 8 in 10 said it’s going in the right direction.

The reversal was evident with Democrats, too, but not quite as sharply. In October, 54% of Democrats thought the country was headed in the right direction. Now, 90% say it’s going the wrong way.

Independents feel similarly to the way they did last year, but are 6 points higher in saying the country is headed in the wrong direction now (68%).

A whopping 79% think the country has gone too far in restricting speech.

That crosses political lines, with 88% of Democrats, 86% of independents and 64% of Republicans saying so.

People also believe the federal government should play a minimal role in regulating speech. Just 15% said they think the government should play a major role in doing so. Another 44% said it should only play a minor role, and 41% said it should play no role at all.

The numbers were similar across political parties, but with Trump as president Republicans were more likely than Democrats or independents to say the government should play a major role — 22% of Republicans said that, while just 13% of Democrats and 11% of independents agreed.

Respondents also said by a wide margin that the Supreme Court should be responsible for defining what speech is considered unacceptable or too extreme — 62% said that compared to 26% for Congress and 11% for the president.

There was a sharp partisan split on support for the deployment of the National Guard in local communities to reduce crime or assist local law enforcement.

Overall, by a 52%-47% margin, respondents said they support it in trying to reduce crime, but three-quarters of Democrats oppose the effort (60% strongly). A majority of independents (56%) also oppose, but 89% of Republicans are in favor.

The numbers were nearly identical on assisting law enforcement.

Wide support for requiring vaccines for children before entering school, but not as strongly among Republicans

The overwhelming majority — 82% — support requiring children to be vaccinated against certain diseases, such as measles, mumps and rubella, before attending public school.

That includes 71% of Republicans, but they believe so far less strongly than Democrats and independents. For example, 77% of those who voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024 felt strongly that children should be vaccinated, while only 30% of Trump voters did.

Most say controlling gun violence is more important than protecting gun rights

Roughly 6 in 10 said they believe that controlling gun violence is more important than protecting gun rights. But, like on many issues, Democrats and independents feel one way — 90% and 63%, respectively, said controlling gun violence is more important — while Republicans overwhelmingly feel another way. Three-quarters of Republicans said protecting gun rights is more important.

There was a notable split, however, among a key Trump base group — white voters without college degrees. White men without degrees were 58% in favor of protecting gun rights, a majority white women without degrees (56%), on the other hand, said controlling gun violence was more important.

High disapproval of Trump’s handling of the Epstein files

By a 61%-20% margin, respondents said they disapprove of how the Trump administration is handling the files related to the death of Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide while in prison six years ago.

That included almost 9 in 10 Democrats and 7 in 10 independents. Republicans, though, were more split — 45% approved, 25% didn’t and 30% said they don’t know enough to say.

But two-thirds of Republicans (and 77% of respondents overall) said they support releasing all the files with the names of victims redacted. So they appear to be giving Trump the benefit of the doubt to do what they think should happen — eventually.