The growing acceptance of political violence promises nothing good in the United States
Left Americans to peaceful demonstrations are becoming more and more likely to believe that political violence will be necessary to save America
A participant has a sign “We are not ok” during the demonstration “Close the coup” on the western lawn of the American Capitol on March 10, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images
Since Donald Trump took office on January 20, his second administration Declared war on science and scientists. Trump administration first weeks Included a Federal funding freeze,, Better scientific shooting through government agencies, eliminating scientific dataCancel scientific advice panels, and much more.
In response, Defend science The rallies took place in 32 places across the United States on March 7. The organizers coordinated the action day to “defend science as a public good and pillar of social, political and economic progress. “Although events have shown solidarity with federal workers and science support, the data that my team has collected from participants provide alarming evidence of the way public feeling changes and what left -winging Americans believe they are necessary to protect American democracy.
Violence is more and more on the table.
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During the scientific event of Stand Up for Science in Washington, DC, I led a research team for six people to participants in survey. Depending on the same thing Methodology that I used to study the resistance that pushed the first Trump administration and its policiesAs well as the beginnings of resistance 2.0, we collected investigation data as people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial and listened to speeches. A total of 342 people completed the survey (representing a response rate of 81%).
In many ways, the people who proved to be for this event were very similar to those who participated in The 2017 march for science: They were mainly female, white, very educated and supported the Democratic candidate – Clinton in 2016 and Harris in 2024 – during the recent presidential election.
Amanda Montañez; Source: Dana R. Fisher (data))
In other respects, the participants were different: they were less committed to civic than the participants in the science march, which took place at the start of the first Trump administration. Less said they contacted elected officials, attend the town hall meetings or have contacted the media to express a view in 2017.
The current moment is also very different because the Trump administration works to reduce the federal workforce, which involved mass fire of scientists in various US government agencies. Consequently, the greatest motivation of the participants in the demonstration was the federal reduction of the workforce and the frost of federal financing, at 81%. The second most popular motivation to join the event was climate change (73%, against 93% reported by the participants during the March for Science 2017).
In addition to the usual battery of questions that I have been asking participants for years for years, we have recently started to ask the participants of protest a version adapted to a question of the Investigation of American values To assess their prospects on political violence.
The results of this recent demonstration are frightening and show a clear trend: more than a third of the participants in the Stand Up for Science Rally in Washington, DC (35%) said they thought that “because things have moved away so far, Americans can have to resort to violence in order to save our country”. This percentage is slightly higher than that of 33 percent declaring support for political violence when we questioned popular march Two days before the second inauguration of Trump in January. Also notable: within seven weeks since about the People’s Marche, the percentage of left -wing Americans who participate in peaceful demonstrations and who report that they will not support political violence have dropped considerably.
A graph, below, includes our results of recent demonstrations as well as the data that we have collected from a representative sample at the national level of 1,000 Americans via Yougov the week before the elections, as well as the last wave of The investigation into American values.
To be clear, the participants in the protest are not representative of all the Democrats or even of the lefts on the left. However, these data clearly document that Support for political violence is not only among the Republicans and supporters of Trump. Left Americans participating in peaceful and legally authorized demonstrations are beginning to believe that political violence will be necessary to save America.
No more rallies arrive, with a huge walk called for April 5 which is coordinated by A coalition of left -wing groups, including indivisible, women’s march and the new 50501 group. The theme of the demonstration, as described by indivisible, is to “Stop the illegal billionaire power of Trump and Musk. “Until now, the organizers of Stand Up for Science have not joined the coalition, but there is no doubt that people who care about science will be in the crowd. Trump and Musk keep the hands of personal data, research on cancer, clean energy, libraries and more. We will see there if the views of those who resist Trump policies have hardened.
As we testify Luigi Mangione, the alleged killer of the CEO of Unitedhealthcare, Brian Thompson, be treated like a folk heroAnd social media sites flood from references to the assassination, it is important to highlight the dangers for a country that trembles on the verge of political violence. Research Documents How Political violence leads to political repression and demobilizes social movements. In other words, not only is political violence dangerous, but it can also turn around.
These unexpected consequences are frightening to contemplate. Although the Trump administration seems to have declared war on science and scientists, the data that we have collected should make us wonder all if scientists and those who support science can prepare to declare war.
This is an article of opinion and analysis, and the points of view expressed by the author or the authors are not necessarily those of American scientist.