76 Percent of Americans Are Worried About Post-Election Violence: Poll

An early voting site ahead of the Republican primary election at Wando Mount Pleasant Library in Mount Pleasant, S.C., on Feb. 17, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

A new poll shows that the vast majority of Americans are at least somewhat worried about a possible outbreak of violence following the fast-approaching Nov. 5 presidential election.

The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, released on Oct. 28, found that 41 percent of registered voters were “extremely” or “very” concerned about post-election political violence, with another 35 percent saying they are “somewhat” concerned about an outbreak of unrest after Election Day.

A higher percentage of Americans (82 percent) said they were at least “somewhat” concerned about increased political violence directed at election officials or political figures. The specter of violence has hung over much of the presidential campaign due to two assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump, while President Joe Biden said recently he’s confident the election will be “free and fair” but is unsure whether it will be “peaceful.”

The findings of the AP-NORC survey align with the results of a recent Scripps News/Ipsos poll, which showed that 62 percent of Americans believe that an outbreak of post-election violence is at least “somewhat” likely. At the same time, over half (51 percent) of those polled by Scripps News/Ipsos said they would support using the U.S. military to prevent election-related violence, including 61 percent of Republicans.

The use of the U.S. military to respond to political violence has become a heated topic of discussion in recent weeks after Trump said he wasn’t concerned about election-related violence because, if chaos were to truly break out, the National Guard—or even regular military units—could step in to restore order.

“I think it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen,” Trump said in an Oct. 13 interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, in response to a question about the potential for an outbreak of election-related violence. The former president added that he wasn’t worried about potential Election Day chaos being fomented by his supporters or foreign actors, but instead by people he labeled “radical left lunatics” and the “enemy from within.”

Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign seized on Trump’s remarks, saying that Americans should find them alarming.

“Trump is suggesting that his fellow Americans are worse ‘enemies’ than foreign adversaries, and he is saying he would use the military against them,” Ian Sams, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, said in a statement.

Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), dismissed those concerns as unfounded campaign rhetoric. In an Oct. 27 interview on CNN, Vance said that when Trump spoke about using the U.S. military against the “enemy from within” he was not referring to political opponents but to extreme cases like the far-left activists who “burn down our cities,” referring to the chaos that engulfed parts of the country in the summer of 2020 following the death of George Floyd.

The poll showing a growing public concern about election-related violence was released with just eight days of campaigning left before Election Day. Over 45 million early votes have already been cast.

Meanwhile, the vast majority—92 percent—of local election officials have taken steps to increase security for poll workers, election infrastructure, and voters ahead of the 2024 election, according to a survey conducted earlier this year. The survey also showed that election-related safety concerns have reached or exceeded levels recorded in the prior election cycle.