Americans agree political violence is rising — but not on the reason why, poll finds

Americans of all stripes agree: political violence is on the rise.

But, the consensus ends there. When it comes to which groups are to blame and what underlying factors are at play, views are splintered, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

The poll — conducted Sept. 22-28 with 3,445 U.S. adults — comes six weeks after Charlie Kirk, an influential conservative activist, was assassinated in Utah, sparking a renewed debate over political violence.

Rising political violence

The vast majority of respondents, 85%, said that politically motivated attacks are increasing in the U.S. Meanwhile, 12% said they are remaining steady, while just 3% said they are decreasing.

Nearly identical proportions of Democrats and left-leaning independents (85%) and Republicans and right-leaning independents (86%) said that violence is growing.

This popular perception is supported by evidence, experts previously told McClatchy News, pointing to recent assassination attempts on President Donald Trump and the shootings of Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

“The idea that domestic political violence has gotten worse in the past decade or so is a common intuition, and it is generally backed up by the data, although there is debate over the exact extent,” Michael Becker, a data scientist who researches extremism and a lecturer at UCLA, said.

“This is a serious and dangerous trend,” Sean Westwood, a government professor at Dartmouth College and director of the Polarization Research Lab, added.

Divide over causes

Most Republicans and Democrats said right-wing and left-wing extremism — in addition to violence rooted in muddled political views — are at least minor problems.

But, partisans disagreed when it came to what they view as major problems, according to the poll, which has a margin of error of 1.9 percentage points.

The overwhelming majority of Republicans, 77%, said left-wing extremism poses a major problem in America, while just 27% said the same when it came to right-wing attacks.

Democrats held the opposite view. Seventy-six percent characterized right-wing extremism as a major issue, while 32% said left-wing extremism is a top concern.

Meanwhile, roughly half of Democrats and Republicans — 47% and 49%, respectively — said “extremism from those without clear political views” presents a serious problem.

A recent study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) found that, for the first time in 30 years, left-wing domestic terrorism is outpacing right-wing attacks so far in 2025.

However, experts told McClatchy News that politically motivated attacks often defy neat categorization.

“Searching for a single partisan motive among perpetrators of political violence is likely a fruitless exercise,” Westwood said. “The more salient common factors are social isolation, mental illness, and a deep-seated conviction that the political system itself is illegitimate.”

Poll participants were also invited to share — using their own words — what they see as the main drivers of politically motivated violence in recent years, resulting in a major partisan divide.

Twenty-eight percent of Democrats mentioned the behavior or rhetoric of Trump, Republicans, conservatives and the MAGA movement, making this their most common answer.

Meanwhile, a plurality of Republicans, 16%, cited the rhetoric or behavior of Democrats and liberals.

A few other reasons were mentioned. Thirteen percent of Democrats and 9% of Republicans pointed to partisan polarization. The same shares, but reversed, brought up the inability to engage with or understand those who hold different views.

Smaller percentages blamed social media, traditional media and the “acceptance of violence.”

This story was originally published October 24, 2025 at 2:21 PM with the headline "Americans agree political violence is rising — but not on the reason why, poll finds."