- A recent study found that public support for using violence to "coerce" members of Congress nearly doubled from January to June.
- Support among self-identified Democrats for political violence grew by about 250%, according to the study.
- "The more there's distrust in democracy, the more that's leading to radical support for the use of force," the study's author told Insider.
Public support for the use of force against members of Congress nearly doubled from January to June of this year, according to a recent study shared with Insider.
The study, published by the University of Chicago's Project on Security and Threats (CPOST), found that as of June 26, 17% of the American public — an estimated 44 million people — supported using violence to coerce lawmakers. That's up from 9% when the survey was conducted in January.
The spike was most pronounced among self-identified Democrats: in January, 7% of Democrats supported using political violence against lawmakers, and that number climbed to 16% in June.
By contrast, the support for political violence against Congress among self-identifying Republicans increased by 50%. Overall, a higher percentage of these Republicans — 18% of all respondents — endorse the use of force against lawmakers compared to Democrats.
"When we say violence or coercion, we're using 'use of force' specifically because we know the respondents interpret that as meaning, 'even if some people are injured and killed,'" Robert Pape, a political science professor at the University of Chicago and the study's author, told Insider.
The report noted that while support for violence against members of Congress increased "across the political spectrum, the rise was sharpest among Democrats, where it grew by about 2.5 times."
It did not draw a specific causal link for the rise in support for extremism among Democrats, but noted that it coincides with "growing anger over the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and hearings that they have held painting a disparaging picture of Democrats."
Pape's report, which was published earlier this month, also clocked a significant jump over the last several months in public support for using violence to restore former President Donald Trump to power.
Specifically, the survey found roughly 4% of Americans — an estimated 12 million people — supported using violence to return Trump to office in April. By the end of June, that number spiked to an estimated 18 million Americans, about a 50% increase. The CPOST survey polled 3,543 adults between June 22 and June 26 had a 2.3% margin of error.
Pape also noted that rise in radical support for violence across the aisle is connected to "perceived corruption in our democratic institutions."
"We have credible evidence that the more there's distrust in democracy, the more that's leading to radical support for the use of force for both conservative, Republican causes and also for liberal causes," he told Insider.