Poll Data Shows Democrats' Desensitization to Political Violence Against Trump
Source: Brianna Lyman. "One Third Of Democrats Support Trump Being Assassinated." September 22, 2026. thefederalist.com
The Gist
The author argues that a new poll showing many Democrats would feel happy about Trump's death signals a broader, dangerous normalization of political violence within the Democratic Party. She connects this poll to real assassination attempts on Trump and violent statements from Democratic politicians to suggest these are all part of the same disturbing trend.
Conclusion
A significant and dangerous portion of the Democratic Party has become desensitized to, or supportive of, political violence against Trump, which helps explain the pattern of assassination attempts and violent rhetoric from the left.
Premises
- A poll by the Center for Strategic Politics found that 31% of Democrat respondents would feel positive (23% 'very positive,' 8% 'somewhat positive') upon seeing a headline announcing Trump's assassination at a rally.
- 55% of Democrat respondents said they would feel positive if Trump died overnight in his sleep.
- Democrats also expressed favorable views toward removing Trump via impeachment, military coup, or the 25th Amendment.
- Trump has survived multiple assassination attempts and security breaches since July 2024 (Butler PA shooting, Ryan Routh, Austin Tucker Martin, Cole Tomas Allen, Nasire Best).
- Democratic officials and candidates (Jay Jones, Elliot Forhan) have made public statements fantasizing about or promising violence against Trump and Republicans, with limited political consequence.
- A separate post-Charlie Kirk-assassination poll found liberals more likely than conservatives to say it's acceptable to feel happy about a public figure's death (16% of liberals vs. presumably lower for conservatives).
Assumptions
- Positive emotional responses to a hypothetical headline in a poll indicate genuine desensitization to or endorsement of political violence, rather than expressions of political frustration or hyperbole.
- The poll (683 Democrat voters, single organization, specific dates) is methodologically sound and representative of Democratic voters broadly.
- The correlation between polling sentiment and actual assassination attempts implies or suggests causation (i.e., that this sentiment contributes to real-world violence).
- Statements by individual Democratic politicians (Jones, Forhan) are representative of the party's broader climate or are causally linked to shifts in public sentiment, rather than being outlier remarks.
- The framing of 'assassination' being applied to Forhan's stated meaning (legal due process resulting in capital punishment) is equivalent to Forhan actually advocating extralegal killing.