More say violence could be necessary to restore Trump to White House: survey

A recent survey shows increasing support for the use of violence to restore former President Trump to the White House.

The report, titled “Dangers to Democracy” and released by the Chicago Project on Security Threats (CPST) earlier this month, found that 7 percent of Americans from April 6 to June 26 agree that “the use of force is justified to restore Donald Trump to the presidency.”

That number is an increase from 4.5 percent, or “the equivalent of an estimated shift from 12 million to 18 million American adults,” according to the survey, which was conducted by CPST and NORC.

It’s the first bump in the number of Americans who agree with that statement since April of last year.

The rise “likely reflects the response of more intense commitment to Trump following the announcement of the federal indictment against him for mishandling classified documents on June 9, 2023 — about two and a half weeks before our June 26, 2023 survey,” the poll said.

Trump was charged by the Justice Department with 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information, one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one count of making false statements and four additional offenses pertaining to different forms of concealment.  The obstruction charge alone carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. The former president pleaded not guilty on June 13.

It was Trump’s second indictment, and his first federal one, following his decision to run for president in 2024. He had previously been hit with charges in April by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg over alleged hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels; he has also pleaded not guilty in that case.

The former president predicted earlier this month that he would be hit with his second federal indictment, this one over his involvement in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, in which a violent mob stormed the Capitol in an effort to overturns the results of the election.

Trump has frequently been accused of being responsible for the attack, having rallied his supporters that day and urged them to march to the Capitol following his loss to President Biden. The events of Jan. 6 and Trump’s continued refusal to acknowledge that the 2020 election was free and fair have fueled concerns that the 2024 one will also be marked by violence.

Other findings in the survey included “about 40 percent of Americans” sharing “at least one attitude reflecting deep distrust of American democratic institutions” and “20 percent of Americans” believing in “anti-democratic political conspiracy theories about how the country is run.”

The survey used a random sample of 3,543 people with a margin of error of 2.30 percent and was conducted between June 22-26.