Americans Believe Escalating Political Rhetoric is Fueling Violence: Poll

The poll found that 71 percent of respondents agree with the statement that ‘American society is broken.’

People lay items and flowers on the campus of Utah Valley University one day after the assassination of Charlie Kirk in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 11, 2025. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Nearly two out of three Americans believe that escalating rhetoric and the way political discourse is engaged in are leading to more violence in the United States, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

The survey was conducted in the days after conservative political commentator Charlie Kirk was assassinated at a Utah university.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll, taken between Sept. 12 and 14, found that Americans are growing concerned over a climate of rising partisan divisions and ramping violence in a year that has also included the firebombing attack on Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence, and the June killings of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband.

Roughly 63 percent of people questioned in the poll said the way Americans talk about politics has done “a lot” to encourage violence, while 31 percent said the current approach to political discourse was having “a little” impact on violence.

The remaining respondents either saw no impact or skipped the question.

The ratio was mostly consistent across the political aisle, with 70 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Republicans, and 61 percent of Independents saying American political discourse was doing “a lot” to encourage violence in the United States.

Additionally, 79 percent of respondents said the nation has become less tolerant of opposing viewpoints over the past 20 years, according to the poll.

Roughly 85 percent of Republicans, 80 percent of Democrats, and 76 percent of independents believe that Americans have become less tolerant of viewpoints different than their own over the past two decades.

The poll found that 71 percent of those who answered agree with the statement that “American society is broken,” while 66 percent said they fear the possibility of violence committed against those within their community because of their political beliefs.

Experts say data indicate political violence is increasing in the United States.

Within the first half of 2025, the nation experienced roughly 150 politically motivated attacks, nearly double that of the same period in the previous year, according to Mike Jensen, a researcher at the University of Maryland, who has been tracking political violence in a terrorism database for 55 years.

More Americans appeared to have noticed the Kirk assassination compared to the June shootings in Minnesota, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Roughly 68 percent of respondents said they had read, seen, or heard “a lot” about Kirk’s slaying last week, compared to 26 percent who said the same about the shootings of Hortman, her husband, and the wounding of Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll has a margin of error of roughly 3 percentage points and was conducted online, surveying 1,037 U.S. adults.

Reuters contributed to this report.