Nearly one in five Republicans say that if Donald Trump loses the 2024 election, he should declare the results invalid and do whatever it takes to assume office, according to a new national survey.
Why it matters: The growing number of Republicans willing to shun democratic norms — and possibly embrace violence — comes as Trump continues to falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen from him and is saying the 2024 election is already rigged.
- The survey from the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and the Brookings Institution is the latest sign of how Trump's grievances and conspiracy theories have reshaped his party — and whipped up its most disaffected, far-right elements.
Zoom in: Trump's falsehoods — and what Democrats say is the threat he poses to democracy — have even some Democrats questioning whether their party should accept a loss in the Nov. 5 election.
- While 19% of Republicans say Trump should reject the election results if he loses, 12% of Democrats say Kamala Harris should do the same if she loses.
- Meanwhile, nearly 3 in 10 Republicans believe that true American patriots may have to resort to violence to save the country, compared with 16% of independents and 8% of Democrats.
What they're saying: "I've been doing this for 20 years, and these answers ... are keeping me up at night," Robert P. Jones, president and founder of PRRI, tells Axios.
- Jones said those supporting the loser of the election doing whatever it takes to assume office are essentially endorsing a coup against the United States.
- "It's all pretty dark and worrisome," he said.
Zoom in: Americans who most trust conservative news outlets are the most likely to support political violence (41%). Among those who trust Fox news the most, the figure is 30%.
- 18% of those who said they don't watch TV news and 13% of those who most trust mainstream TV news said they would support political violence.
The intrigue: Support for political violence breaks along racial and religious lines, the survey found.
- About three in 10 Latter-day Saints and a similar percentage of white evangelical Protestants (28%) agree that "true American patriots" may have to resort to violence to save the country — the religious demographic with the highest support.
- 18% of Hispanic Catholics, 14% of Black Protestants and 10% of Jewish Americans support this view.
Yes, but: The survey found two issues that unite Americans across party and racial lines.
- Nearly three-quarters of Americans (73%) favor requiring Supreme Court justices to retire at a certain age or after a certain number of years on the bench, instead of serving for life.
- And a majority of Americans (68%) oppose laws that make it illegal to use or receive FDA-approved drugs such as mifepristone, also known as the abortion pill, through the mail.
Methodology: The American Values Survey was conducted online from Aug. 16 to Oct. 4. The poll is based on a representative sample of 5,027 adults (age 18 and older) living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia who are part of Ipsos' Knowledge Panel®.
- The margin of sampling error is +/- 1.82 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample.
