Washington: The division in society has increased a lot during the US presidential election. A Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Tuesday found that Americans fear that their country is getting out of control after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. At the same time, there is growing concern that the November 5 election could lead to more political violence. The two-day poll found that Republican presidential candidate Trump is holding a slight lead among registered voters. 43% people like Trump, while 41% people like Biden.
Trump leads by just 3 percent
This lead was within the poll’s margin of error of 3 percentage points. This shows that the assassination attempt on Trump has not caused any major change in the sentiments of voters. But 80% of voters – including both Democrats and Republicans – said they agreed with the statement that “the country is getting out of control.”
1202 people took part in the survey
The poll, conducted online, surveyed 1,202 American adults across the country, including 992 registered voters. Trump narrowly escaped death on Saturday when a bullet from a would-be assassin grazed his ear while he was speaking at an election rally in Pennsylvania. Blood was pouring down his face and he raised his fist in the air and shouted the words “Fight! Fight! Fight!” However, the Secret Service took him off the stage. One person attending the rally was killed and two others were seriously injured in the shootout.
Violence also took place after Kennedy’s assassination
The shooting brought back memories of the turbulent political period of the 1960s, when Democratic President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. Then Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968. About 84% of voters polled said they were concerned that extremists would commit acts of violence after the election, up from the results of a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in May, which showed 74% of voters had this fear.
Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol in 2021
Fears of political violence in the US were heightened when thousands of Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in a bid to overturn Trump’s election loss to Biden. Four people died on the day of the attack, and a Capitol Police officer who fought against rioters died the next day. While Americans said they feared violence, few justified it. Just 5% of respondents said it was acceptable for someone from their political party to commit violence to achieve a political goal, down from 12% in a June 2023 Reuters/Ipsos poll.
67% of voters worried
About 67% of respondents in the latest poll said they were concerned about incidents of violence against their community because of their political beliefs, compared with 60% in a June 2023 Reuters/Ipsos poll. A bipartisan majority in the latest poll said they were concerned that Americans might resort to violence rather than coming together peacefully to resolve disagreements. The assassination attempt on Trump dominated media headlines and even led to talk among some of his conservative Christian supporters that he had been saved by God.
Religion also dominates US election
In a Reuters/Ipsos poll, 65% of registered Republicans said Trump’s survival showed he had “divine grace or God’s will.” Eleven percent of Democrats agreed. The US leads rich countries in terms of the adoption of religion, with evangelical Christians largely aligned with the Republican Party in recent decades. According to a poll by the Gallup International Association, about 77% of Americans surveyed in 2022 said they believed in God, while 56% of Canadian and 39% of British respondents said so.
