A large portion of Americans on both sides of the aisle favor getting rid of democracy and imposing violence on political opponents, among other authoritarian measures, according to a new poll.
Thirty-one percent of supporters and 24% of supporters of President Joe Biden said democracy is “no longer viable” and an alternative system should be tried, according to an October poll by the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.
The poll polled 2,008 registered voters from Aug. 25 to Sept. 11 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.
Other key findings:
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Nearly half of Biden supporters, 47 percent and 35 percent of Trump supporters said the government should restrict the expression of views “considered discriminatory or offensive.”
The poll comes as Trump, the leading contender for the GOP nomination, continues to claim without evidence that the 2020 elections was manipulated against him.
The results, which indicate a desire for authoritarian repression, come at a time when public trust in government is at a low almost record low, according to the Pew Research Center. In a 2023 poll, only 16% of Americans said they trusted the government to do what is right at least most of the time.
The survey reveals “seriously worrying findings about democracy and the potential for violence,” Rick Hasen, director of UCLA’s Project on Safeguarding Democracy, told X.
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