- Thursday, December 08, 2022
According to a survey, as many as 65 per cent of all respondents said political violence had increased since the start of 2021.
By: Pramod Thomas
A new survey has revealed that nearly half of Americans anticipate a civil within a decade, and one in five citizens believes the recent violence in the country are motivated by political reasons.
According to the research by YouGov and the Economist, more than half of ‘strong Republicans’ think a conflict is very likely.
As many as 65 per cent of all respondents said political violence had increased since the start of 2021. Around 62 per cent of Americans believe that political violence would increase in the next few years.
Among all US citizens, 43 per cent said civil war was at least somewhat likely. Among strong Democrats and independents that figure was 40 per cent. But among strong Republicans, 54 per cent said civil war was at least somewhat likely.
Firearm deaths in the US grew by nearly 43 per cent between 2010 and 2020, and gun sales surged during the coronavirus pandemic.
On Sunday (28), South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham warned there will be ‘riots in the streets’ if Trump is indicted over his retention of classified documents after leaving the White House.
Responding to Graham, Mary McCord, a former acting deputy attorney general, said that it was “incredibly irresponsible for an elected official to basically make veiled threats of violence, just if law enforcement and the Department of Justice … does their job”.
The White House on Monday (29) said it is “appropriate” that the US intelligence community is reviewing potential national security risks if Trump took ultra-sensitive material to his residence after his term ended.
The White House is not involved in that probe of materials recovered during a search of Trump’s Florida residence, the Biden administration said.
National Intelligence Director (DNI) Avril Haines said in a letter to lawmakers that her office is working with the Justice Department to “facilitate a classification review” of documents including those recovered during the August 8 search of Trump’s Florida residence Mar-a-Lago.
Nine deaths including suicides among police officers have been linked to the Capitol attack on 6 January 2021. Since then, fears of political violence have grown in the US.
Experts said that a full-scale armed conflict, like the American civil war of 1861-65, remains unlikely.
Rachel Kleinfeld, a specialist in civil conflict at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, has not ruled out the possibility of a civil war.
“Countries with democracies and governments as strong as America’s do not fall into civil war. But if our institutions weaken, the story could be different,” Kleinfeld was quoted as saying by the Guardian.
Almost all respondents to the survey thought it’s important for the US to remain a democracy, about 40 per cent said having a strong leader is more important.
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