Political Violence Has Become Normalized in the United States

Fifty million Americans think that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, and around 30 million believe that a secret group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles is running the U.S. government. Given the uptake of these sorts of conspiracy theories, is it any wonder that political violence is supported by determined minorities on both the right and the left—and at disturbingly high and stable levels?

These findings come from surveys conducted by the University of Chicago’s Project on Security and Threats. For Foreign Policy, Robert A. Pape, a political science professor and director of the project, tracks how political violence has become a normalized tool for Americans to achieve their political goals, pointing to multiple attempts to assassinate or severely harm leaders across the political spectrum in recent years.

Dangers to Democracy Tracker

Pape’s piece is part of a package on political violence that we published in the days leading up to the U.S. presidential election—examining both the causes and possible solutions to such violence once it starts. In addition to Pape’s startling snapshot of American attitudes, we look to experts in countries on four continents for ways out of embittered political polarization.

Read it here: Why Electoral Violence Starts—and How It Can End