Poll: Nearly One-Third of Americans See Second Civil War in Next 5 Years
There’s seemingly no middle ground when it comes to President Donald Trump.
His supporters love him, while critics hate him.
That hate has ranged from profanity laced tweets, to celebrities using social media to threaten the president and his family, to members of the president’s staff being harassed and threatened in public.
Every day, it seems like there’s a civil war of political ideologies on display. A new survey suggests a number of Americans are worried an actual civil war could be on the horizon.
A Rasmussen Reports poll finds 31 percent of likely voters say it’s likely the United States will experience a second civil war sometime in the next five years, including 11 percent who say it’s very likely.
Even if opposition to Trump’s agenda doesn’t rise to the level of an actual civil war, more than half of Americans expect an increase in politically inspired violence — violence sparked by critics of Trump, as well as by his supporters.
Rasmussen’s survey found 59 percent of voters say they are concerned that opponents of Trump will resort to violence, including 33 percent who admit to being very concerned.
On the flip side, 53 percent are concerned that those critical of the media’s coverage of Trump will resort to violence, with 24 percent of those saying they are very concerned about this possibility.
To balance out the fear factor, 59 percent consider a second civil war unlikely, 29 percent of whom say it’s not at all likely.
When it comes to concerns of violence from the president’s critics, 37 percent believe it’s unlikely, including 16 percent who are not at all concerned by the prospect.
In addition, 42 percent say they are not concerned about violence from media opponents, including 17 percent who are not at all concerned.
There are some figures in this survey that bode well for the president, however.
For instance, 42 percent of those surveyed say the country is headed in the right direction. By comparison, in 2016, the final year of Obama’s presidency, the percentage of people who agreed with that statement ran in the mid- to upper 20s.
In addition, only 40 percent of those surveyed believe the country would be better off today if Hillary Clinton had been elected president instead of Trump.
The poll was conducted of 1,000 likely voters from June 21-24. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
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