A troubling shift in American attitudes toward political violence has emerged, with women expressing greater tolerance for political assassination than their male counterparts, according to new polling data that challenges conventional assumptions about who might condone such acts.
The Network Contagion Research Institute conducted a nationally representative survey of American adults that revealed women were 14% to 20% more likely than men to believe the assassination of high-profile political figures could be justified. The findings come at a time when the nation has witnessed a disturbing increase in political violence, including assassination attempts and successful attacks on prominent figures.
The research, which utilized CloudResearch Prime Panels to gather responses from a cross-section of American adults, asked participants to rate on a seven-point scale whether killing specific political figures would be justified or unjustified. The results showed that 54.7% of women expressed some level of justification for the hypothetical assassination of one political figure, compared with 45.2% of men. For another scenario involving former President Donald Trump, 57.1% of women indicated some justification, compared to 50.1% of men.
These findings stand in stark contrast to actual crime statistics. Women account for only approximately 13% of all murders committed in the United States over the past five years, making the polling results particularly noteworthy.
Joel Finkelstein, co-founder of the Network Contagion Research Institute, acknowledged that the data defied initial expectations. The research team had anticipated that young men, facing challenges such as unemployment, social disengagement, and declining graduation rates, would be the primary demographic expressing tolerance for political violence. Instead, the data revealed a pattern that cut across traditional risk categories.
The findings suggest what Finkelstein characterized as a deeper moral crisis affecting Americans regardless of political persuasion or demographic background. The tolerance for political violence appeared not to be confined to any single ideological camp or social group.
Finkelstein offered an analysis rooted in broader social trends observed over the past decade. Women, particularly younger women, have become increasingly politically polarized and emotionally invested in political identity formation, much of which occurs in online spaces. This shift toward heightened political engagement and moral reasoning applied to political matters has been documented in various studies over recent years.
The hypothesis presented by the research team suggests that the current polling data may represent the culmination of these longer-term societal changes. The increased political polarization, combined with the tendency to view political disagreements through a moralized lens, may be creating conditions where violence becomes more conceptually acceptable as a political tool.
The Institute conducted similar polling in April, suggesting an ongoing effort to track these attitudes over time. The consistency and breadth of the findings point to a phenomenon that extends beyond temporary reactions to specific events or figures.
As the nation grapples with recent acts of political violence, these polling results raise serious questions about the state of civic discourse and the erosion of norms that have traditionally placed political violence beyond the bounds of acceptable conduct in American democracy.
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