Americans Increasingly Concerned About Political Violence — CBS News Poll

By Anthony Salvanto, CBS Dallas/Fort Worth

September 5, 2022

Against a backdrop of so much concern that democracy is under threat, Americans also see a rising potential for political violence: almost two-thirds think the coming years will bring an increase. And the percentage holding that view has itself been rising even higher, compared to 2021.

The prospect of violence is tied in part to a perception of widening divisions: a whopping 80% of Americans believe the U.S. is more divided now than it was during their parents' generation. (And here, older Americans are even more likely to say this, and their parents' generation would have lived through the upheaval of the '60s.) Just as many say tone and civility have gotten worse.

Then, when they look forward, a majority believe that a generation from now the U.S. will be less of a democracy than it is today.

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