Don’t miss the full story, whose reporting from Jonathan J. Cooper and Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux at The Associated Press is the basis of this AI-assisted article.
A new AP-NORC poll reveals that younger Americans are significantly less concerned about political violence than older generations, despite this year’s assassinations of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah and Democratic state lawmaker Melissa Hortman in Minnesota.
Some key facts:
• Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot dead in September while speaking at Utah Valley University, and Democratic state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed in their Minnesota home in June in politically motivated attacks.
• Approximately 44% of U.S. adults are extremely or very concerned about political violence directed at conservatives, while 41% express similar concern about violence directed at liberals.
• About half of adults age 60 and older are highly concerned about political violence directed at either conservatives or liberals, compared with only about 3 in 10 adults under age 30.
• About 6 in 10 Republicans are extremely or very concerned about violence against conservatives, but only 27% express high concern about violence against liberals, while about 6 in 10 Democrats are highly concerned about violence against liberals and 38% about violence against conservatives.
• Approximately half of U.S. adults see freedom of speech as facing a major threat, and about 4 in 10 say the same about freedom of the press.
• Only about one-quarter of independents are extremely or very concerned about political violence directed at either conservatives or liberals.
• There is a substantial generational gap in concerns about free speech threats, with about half of adults 60 and older highly concerned about threats to conservatives’ free speech compared to only about one-quarter of adults under 30.
• The AP-NORC poll surveyed 1,289 adults between Oct. 9-13 with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
This article is written with the assistance of generative artificial intelligence based solely on Washington Times original reporting and wire services. For more information, please read our AI policy or contact Ann Wog, Managing Editor for Digital, at awog@washingtontimes.com
The Washington Times AI Ethics Newsroom Committee can be reached at aispotlight@washingtontimes.com.
