US survey: 50% of Americans expecting civil war in coming years
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Researchers present findings that see 50.1% of survey respondents saying that they at least somewhat agree that a civil war will be happening soon.
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Domestic rifts could become increasingly polarized into social violence.
A study from the University of California-Davis reveals that around 50% of Americans expect a civil war to occur "in the next few years."
Researchers working for the university's Violence Prevention Research Program and the California Violence Research Center presented findings that 50.1% of survey respondents said that they at least somewhat agree that a civil war will be happening soon, while 47.8% disagreed.
Read more: The Guardian: Next US civil war is already here
Around 14% said they "strongly" or "very strongly" agree that a civil war is imminent, while 36% said they somewhat agree.
Such results come at a time when the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riots will be giving its final hearing on Thursday.
Read more: Jan 6 panel lays out indictment of Trump, "must be held accountable"
The study's results, according to researchers, may also signal concern regarding the future of US democracy.
Around 66% of respondents maintained that there is a "serious threat" to the country's democracy, while almost 90% said it is “very” or “extremely” important for the US to remain democratic.
However, and surprisingly, over 40% of respondents said that having a "strong leader" for the country holds more importance than having a democracy. Almost one in five said they agreed "strongly" or "very strongly" with such a statement.
Almost 20% agreed, strongly or very strongly, that violence may be justified to protect democracy if elected leaders won't. Over 15% said they agree, strongly or very strongly, with using violence to save "our American way of life," which is "disappearing."
Over 20% said using political violence is justified in general, and 25% said that violence is at least sometimes justified to stop an election from being stolen.
Most brazenly, over 10% of respondents said that violence would at least sometimes be justified to restore Trump's presidency this year.
Trump's rhetoric towards Biden's election into the presidency was that the election was stolen from him, thus his attempt to overturn the election results.
The researchers remarked that the findings are consistent with the previous two years' findings.
“The motivating premises for this survey were that current conditions in the US create both perceived threats and actual threats to its future as a free and democratic society,” they wrote. “The findings bear out both premises.”
