More than 6 in 10 Americans are preparing for violence after the Nov. 5 election, according to a new poll that signals deep dissonance in the country amid the hotly contested White House race.
Sixty-two percent of those surveyed in the latest Scripps News/Ipsos poll released Thursday two said violence after Election Day is “very likely” or “somewhat likely,” including a majority of Republicans (59 percent) and Democrats (70 percent).
About a quarter of people, 23 percent, said they aren’t very worried or not at all worried about post-election violence.
Half of respondents in the poll said they would support using the U.S. military to stop potential violence around Election Day, while 31 percent said they would oppose such a move and 18 percent were unsure.
More than three-quarters of voters said they would be willing to accept the election results if their preferred White House candidate loses, while 21 percent maintained if their presidential pick loses “it is due to widespread voter fraud.”
Eight percent said they would be “fine if my preferred candidate wins by any means necessary, even if violence is involved.”
Former President Trump and Vice President Harris have ramped up attacks on each other in the closing weeks of the campaign as polls have indicated the race remains incredibly close in the handful of battlegrounds that will decide the election.
The Associated Press reported recently that Russia and Iran may try to encourage violent protests after the election, according to senior intelligence officials, upping the ante on the response to the outcome.
The Scripps/Ipsos survey was also conducted in the wake of Trump’s threat to deploy the military against “radical-left lunatics” following the election, remarks that sparked backlash, though the survey did not explicitly mention those comments.
The poll was conducted Oct. 18-20 and has a 3.3 percentage point margin of error.
