Lack of civility, negative tone has most Americans fearful of acts of violence, terrorism: Poll

Americans spanning both sides of the political spectrum overwhelmingly suspect a lack of civility witnessed prior to next week’s midterms may result in future acts of violence or terrorism, the results of a recent poll revealed Friday.

“How concerned are you that the negative tone and lack of civility in Washington will lead to violence or acts of terror,” respondents were asked during a nationwide survey conducted by Marist Poll last week in partnership with NPR and PBS NewsHour.

Seventy-five percent of registered voters people replied that they were concerned to some degree, including 92 percent of Democratic respondents and 70 percent of Republicans, the results revealed.

“You don’t get a consensus like that across party lines very often,” said Barbara Carvalho, director of the Marist Poll, PBS reported.

Conducted Oct. 28 and Oct. 29, the survey of 924 adults, including 822 registered voters, quizzed Americans in the aftermath of incidents including last month’s rash of mail bombs targeting critics of President Trump and a mass-shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue raising concerns across the country about a general lack of civility.

Forty-seven percent of registered voters said they were very concerned a lack of civility will lead to further violence, compared to 32 percent who said they were somewhat concerned and 21 percent who said they were either not very concerned or not concerned at all.

Despite overwhelming concerns existing across the board, respondents were largely divided with regards to laying blame for current conditions. Among all 924 adults surveyed, 37 percent blamed Mr. Trump’s conduct in office, 21 percent blamed the media and 12 percent blamed bickering between Democrats and Republicans.

Three-quarters of registered voters said the overall tone and level of civility between political parties has worsened since Mr. Trump was elected in 2016, including 87 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of Republicans, the poll’s results revealed.

Cesar Altieri Sayoc, 56, has been charged in connection with sending improvised explosive devices to several prominent Democrats and critics of Mr. Trump, and he was arrested on Oct. 26.

Robert Bowers, 46, was arrested following last Saturday’s synagogue shooting and has been charged with dozens of criminal counts in connection with the massacre that killed 11 people and injured several others.