Rasmussen Reports recently released a poll that shows 85% of people expect more political violence to follow after Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Mark Mitchell, COO of Rasmussen Reports, posted on X, saying, “Things are changing FAST. Fears of escalating political violence are the most unifying thing I think we’ve ever polled on. We’re in a new paradigm.”
Mitchell spoke with Jenna Ellis on American Family Radio this week. He believes The U.S. is at the end of a “fourth turning.”
“We've had a super cycle of decaying institutional trust, and we've seen over and over that all of these systems have just completely failed Americans who want to live a normal, free, Judeo-Christian life with their families in a community that they recognize. It’s becoming increasingly clear that there are no easy fixes here,” says Mitchell.
Critics believe that Republicans would be more fearful of political violence since the Charlie Kirk assassination. However, Mitchell says that the polls show that of Democrats are more wary of political violence.
“The weird thing is that Democrats are actually a little bit more very concerned about political violence than the Right is, and that's because they've been gaslit for so long that the right wing are violent extremists,” reveals Mitchell.
According to the poll, 69% of Americans are very concerned about political violence, and 74% of Democrats are very concerned. Also, 48% of Americans think more political violence will happen in the future, with 55% of Democrats believing that is likely. Polling is never 100% and getting above 70%, especially 80%, is rare, Mitchell said.
President Donald Trump said after Kirk’s death, “It’s long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible.”
Rasmussen also conducted a poll to gauge opinions on the Trump quote. While liberal news media has used the quote to paint Trump in a bad light, Mitchell says that 58% of Americans and 53% of Democrats strongly agree with Trump’s words.
“You see all these insane people on TikTok and Reddit calling for the death of conservatives and dehumanizing Charlie Kirk, those are not the majority of Democrats. I think the majority of Democrats don't like the idea that there is all this violent rhetoric,” says Mitchell.
Issues for the R’s and D’s alike
He implies that both political parties are having their own troubles. The Republicans, he says, are facing a rift in leadership despite agreeing on the same beliefs.
“There's this relative ideological uniformity on most things that matter … But the problem is that the leadership structure, there's a major rift, and there's going to be a reckoning there, because most Republicans aren't willing to take action, and I think don't really fundamentally support the MAGA movement,” states Mitchell.
Meanwhile, Democrats hold broad beliefs that seem to be present everywhere, but Mitchell says that there is a split in where not all their voters agree.
“Their voters are relatively conflicted right now. We've asked questions before, like, do you think that the murder of the United Healthcare CEO by Luigi Mangione was understandable? And 34% of Democrats agree, so not all of them. And that's crazy, but it's not all of them,” states Mitchell.
He believes that, with these struggles, both parties will have a political reckoning, partly brought on by the media.
“It looks like the media is not going to stop all of these algorithms that are elevating the absolutely most inflammatory takes, the hidden influences that drive things like Reddit, and TikTok, and Discord, and all the things that people see on Twitch. That’s got to change, and I think society will demand it now,” concludes Mitchell.
