I’m not saying there’s never been violence on the right, and I’m not excusing January 6th at all. But over the last year or maybe longer it feels like political rhetoric on the left has become increasingly extreme, and some recent incidents, including assassination attempts and broader hostility in public discourse, have made people more concerned about political violence overall. At the same time, polls show a concerning number of Americans across the political spectrum think political violence can be justified. How does the Democratic Partyand the people who support it address that trend within their own movement?
A Marquette Law School poll right after Charlie Kirk's assassination found 15% of Democrats said violence is justified to achieve political goals, compared to 6% of Republicans. Among "very liberal" respondents, it was 25%.
YouGov had similar numbers around the same time: 25% of "very liberal" people and 17% of liberals said violence can sometimes be justified, versus 6% of conservatives and 3% of very conservatives.
There are definitely polls out there that argue the right is more accepting of political violence too, so I won’t lean too heavily on polling as my main argument against the left. Polls aren’t everything, and I think people’s actions speak much louder than their words.