A new poll of Democratic voters shows that nearly a third of them would feel “very positive” or “somewhat positive” if President Donald Trump were assassinated while speaking at a public event.
The alarming numbers from polling of 683 Democratic voters on Sept. 3 and again Sept. 8-10 by Liberal Currents and the Center for Strategic Politics were posted on X with the headline: “Democrats want Trump out by (almost) any means necessary.”
Democrats want Trump out by (almost) any means necessary
If you woke up tomorrow morning and saw the following news headlines, how would you feel?
President Donald Trump has been impeached and convicted by both houses of Congress and has been removed from office — 87% very positive or somewhat positive
Using the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, President Trump has been declared unfit by a majority of his cabinet and removed from office — 84% very positive or somewhat positive
President Donald Trump died overnight in his sleep — 55% very positive or somewhat positive
To “safeguard the Constitution”, a group of U.S. military leaders have removed President Donald Trump from power and assumed control of the United States — 59% very positive or somewhat positive
President Donald Trump was assassinated while speaking at a rally — 32% very positive or somewhat positive
The attitudes reflected in the polling echoed sympathies expressed in chat rooms and social media by a small but surprising number of Americans toward accused killers such as Luigi Mangione, charged with assassinating UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in 2024, and even Lindsay Clancy, the mother who strangled her three young children to death in 2023 and whose case resulted in a mistrial on Sept. 4. In recent weeks, a small but loud chorus of women expressed not only sympathy for Clancy but affirmation of her murderous acts.
In the wake of Trump’s ear being grazed by a would-be assassin’s rifle bullet during a 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, online jokes from some of the president’s harshest critics were all but endorsements of the shooter’s actions. And the cheering by some on the left of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination at a Utah university last year seems to track with the latest polling.
Daniel Darling, director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and an assistant professor of faith and culture, told Decision that the polarization that exists stems largely from hope in Christ being replaced by hope in manmade political solutions.
“For too many people, politics has become almost like a religion and people have put all of their hopes and dreams into candidates. So when things don’t go their way, rather than having a transcendent hope to lean on, they react with anger and fear.”
In such a culture, it becomes easy to dehumanize those we disagree with, he said. The key for Christians is to make our public stand a distinctly Christ-centric one.
“Christians should be engaged in the political process, but do it with hope” and a civility that honors Christ as prescribed by 1 Peter 3:15, Darling said.
“We should make bold and vigorous arguments based on Biblical truth, but not see our ideological opponents as less than human. Even those who disagree are made in the image of God. We should resist both dehumanizing rhetoric and calls to political violence. Instead we should model Christlike love.”
The assassination question in the polling showed 23% would feel “very positive” if the president were killed, and another 9% would view it as “somewhat positive.” Also, 55% would feel positively if the president were to die in his sleep. Roughly 59% of those polled would have similar attitudes about a literal military coup “to ‘safeguard the Constitution.’”
Political violence has a history in the United States, but it has been the exception over 250 years.
In recent decades, the nation has endured far-right fanaticism such as the Oklahoma City bombing, pipes bombs being planted at both major parties headquarters during the Jan. 6 Capitol uprising, and even calls for the hanging of former Vice President Mike Pence from a few Jan. 6 protesters. On the left, there has been violence perpetrated against police and bystanders during Black Lives Matter and Antifa protests, multiple thwarted attempts on Trump’s life, and attempts and threats made on the lives of Supreme Court justices.
But the rhetoric and willingness to approve of such violence seems to have grown. A 2025 PBS News/NPR/Marist poll shows that nearly a third of Americans believed that political violence may be necessary to right the direction of the nation.
