A number of posts have discussed support for authoritarianism and political violence in the United States.
One poll suggested Americans support checks and balances, but for the other party.
A more recent poll confirms that support for authoritarianism is strong among certain segments of the public.
Most Democrats and independents would be upset if President-elect Donald Trump suspended laws and constitutional provisions to go after his political enemies. However, few Republicans say this would bother them a lot, although most see his statements about doing this as overstated. The Monmouth (“Mon-muth”) University Poll finds that most Americans feel the country has become more divided during President Joe Biden’s term, but only Republicans think it will become more united after Trump takes office again. In other results, more Americans believe the 2024 presidential results were fair than said the same about the 2020 outcome, mainly due to the steadfast refusal of most Republicans to acknowledge the validity of Biden’s win.
Trump suggested during the presidential campaign that he could suspend some laws and constitutional provisions to go after political enemies in his second term. The public is divided on whether this is something he will seriously do (48%) or if it is more of an exaggeration (47%). Most Democrats take these statements seriously (77%) while most Republicans tend to see them as an exaggeration (71%). Republicans are somewhat less likely to takes these statements seriously now (21%) then they were six months ago (33% in June).
If Trump did suspend some laws and constitutional provisions, 52% of the public would be bothered a lot by this. This number is down from 65% who felt this way in June. Those who say they would be bothered a lot by this ranges from 77% of Democrats (down from 86% in June) to 55% of independents (down from 68%) and just 23% of Republicans (down from 41%).
