'Alarming finding': 30 percent of Republicans say violence may be needed to save U.S., poll shows

[dalton99a]

15. A direct result of Donald Trump

Jones said the substantial showing of support for political violence among Republicans is “a direct result of former President Trump calling into question the election,” pointing to another stark finding from the PRRI poll: More than two-thirds of Republicans, or 68 percent, continue to believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump, compared to 26 percent of independents and just 6 percent of Democrats.

According to the survey, Americans who believe Trump won the 2020 election are roughly four times as likely than those who don’t to agree that violence may be necessary “to save our country,” by a measure of 39 percent to 10 percent. Since he lost the election a year ago, Trump has spread false conspiracy theories claiming that the election was rigged and that President Biden’s win was illegitimate.

The findings also seem to demonstrate a clear correlation between people’s views and their preferred news sources. Among Republicans who trust Fox News above other outlets, 82 percent said they believe the election was stolen from Trump. Ninety-seven percent of those who rely mostly on far-right news sources like Newsmax and One America News (OAN) said the same, compared to less than half, 44 percent, of Republicans who trust mainstream news outlets.

“A large chunk of the Republican Party has been essentially radicalized,” said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. Beirich said she thinks “a lot of responsibility lies with Republican leadership” for failing to push back on the former president’s election fraud claims and efforts to downplay the violence of Jan. 6.

But it's always been there - courtesy of Limbaugh and the Koch brothers: