Nearly 50% of GOP think ‘patriotic Americans’ will soon ‘have to take the law into their own hands’

Nearly half of Republicans believe there will be a time soon where ‘patriotic Americans’ will ‘have to take the law into their own hands,’ according to a new poll.

The YouGov survey for George Washington University found that 47% of Republicans surveyed agreed with the statement there will be a time coming when ‘patriotic Americans have to take the law into their own hands.’

Just 9% of Democrats agreed with that same conclusion, in a shocking difference of opinion on partisan political influence on laws in the United States.  

More than half of Republicans – 55% – also supported the use of force to ‘preserve the traditional American way of life. Just 15% of Democrats supported the use of force to preserve the nation’s values.

The poll took into account responsees from 1,753 registered voters.  

The YouGov survey for George Washington University found that 47% of Republicans surveyed agreed with the statement there will be a time coming when ‘patriotic Americans have to take the law into their own hands’

The survey noted that Democrats and Republicans equally agreed on topics such as free and fair elections, free speech and peaceful protest.

Those results are also startling considering members of both sides of the aisle have defended violent actions from those with whom they agree.

Those survey questions were part of a larger survey about American attitudes and confidence toward elections in the wake of the results 2020 presidential election, which many Republicans have claimed without evidence were the result of fraud.

Danny Hayes, a George Washington University political science professor who co-directed the poll, said he worries that American voters have reached a point where they only trust the electoral system when their side wins.

‘Most of the state and local officials who run our elections are long-time public servants whose goal is simply to help our democracy operate smoothly,’ Hayes said.

‘But if we’ve gotten to a place where voters trust the electoral system only when their side wins, then that undermines the idea of non-partisan election administration, which is essential for democracy.’

The results of the poll show that Democratic voters ‘continue to have more faith in state and local elections than Republicans’ but confidence in state and local election officials seems to vary on the voters’ location and party affiliation. 

Of the Democrats surveyed, 85% trusted local election officials and 76% trusted their state election officials. Those numbers were much lower among Republicans, with 63% trusting local officials and 44% trusting state officials.

The results of the poll show that Democratic voters 'continue to have more faith in state and local elections than Republicans

The results of the poll show that Democratic voters ‘continue to have more faith in state and local elections than Republicans

The confidence of Republican voters in state election officials jumps to 70% if they lived in a state won by Trump in 2020. 

‘However, only 24% of Republicans living in states that Biden won have confidence in their state elections,’ pollsters noted.

‘Among Democrats there is a similar, though less pronounced, pattern with trust higher in Biden states than in Trump states.’

The poll found that 75% of Democratic voters were confident in regard to the integrity of the upcoming 2022 midterm elections. That number is down a single percentage point from the 2020 election, in which 76% of Democratic voters expressed confidence in the integrity of the election.

Just 28% of Republicans are confident in the integrity of the 2022 election, down 18 percentage points from the number of GOP voters, 46%, before the 2020 vote. 

The poll also asked respondents to respond to the statement: ‘It is hard to trust the results of elections when so many people will vote for anyone who offers a handout.’

The survey showed that 82% of Republicans agreed with the statement, while just 15% of Democrats agreed. 

An overwhelming number of Americans, 69%, disapproved of the performance of Congress with 47.8% of Americans giving a ‘very unfavorable’ opinion of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Meanwhile, 40% of Americans gave ‘very unfavorable’ ratings to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer; 52.6% gave ‘very unfavorable’ ratings to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell; and 34.9% gave ‘very unfavorable’ ratings to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez received a 40.9% ‘very unfavorable’ rating while Americans gave Marjorie Taylor Greene a ‘very unfavorable’ ratings pf 42.2%.

The poll, which was conducted in June, also questioned Americans on a range of other topics, including opinions of major politicians and views of if the country was headed in the right direction or not.

Of the 1,753 registered voters polled, only 38.2% said things were ‘generally headed in the right direction’ while a whopping 54.6% said things have gotten ‘off on the wrong track.’

Meanwhile, 55% of Americans claim that the economy has either stayed the same or is getting better – which Politico has called ‘Biden’s very good, not great economy’ after strong growth in 2021 as the country emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.

The poll shows Americans have given President Joe Biden middling ratings for his abilities to handle the pandemic and the economy – most likely along partisan lines.

Of those who responded to the survey, 56.% said they were either ‘somewhat confident’ or ‘very confident’ in Biden’s handling the pandemic – while 46% gave him those same confidence ratings for the economy.