Rising Acceptance of Political Violence Promises Nothing Good for the U.S.
Left-leaning Americans at peaceful demonstrations are becoming more likely to believe that political violence will be necessary to save America
A participant holds a “We are not ok” sign during the “Shut Down the Coup” protest on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on March 10, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
Since Donald Trump took office on January 20, his second administration has declared war on science and scientists. The Trump administration’s first few weeks included a federal funding freeze, firing of top scientists across government agencies, removing scientific data, canceling scientific advisory panels, and much more.
In response, Stand Up for Science rallies took place in 32 locations across the U.S. on March 7. The organizers coordinated the day of action to “defend science as a public good and pillar of social, political, and economic progress.” While the events showed solidarity with federal workers and support for science, the data my team collected from participants provide alarming evidence about how public sentiment is changing and what left-leaning Americans believe will be necessary to protect American democracy.
Violence is increasingly on the table.
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At the Stand Up for Science event in Washington, D.C., I led a six-person research team to survey participants. Following the same methodology I used to study the Resistance that pushed back against the first Trump Administration and its policies, as well as the beginnings of Resistance 2.0, we collected survey data as people assembled in front of the Lincoln Memorial and listened to speeches. In total, 342 people completed the survey (representing an 81 percent response rate).
In many ways, the people who turned out for this event were very similar to those who participated in the 2017 March for Science: they were predominantly female, white, highly educated, and had supported the Democratic candidate—Clinton in 2016 and Harris in 2024—in the recent presidential election.
Amanda Montañez; Source: Dana R. Fisher (data)
In other ways, the participants were different: they were less civically engaged than participants in the March for Science, which took place at the beginning of the first Trump administration. Fewer reported contacting elected officials, attending town hall meetings, or contacting the media to express a view than in 2017.
The current moment is also quite different as the Trump administration works to reduce the federal workforce, which has involved mass firings of scientists at various agencies in the U.S. government. As a result, the top motivation of participants at the demonstration was the federal workforce reduction and the federal funding freeze, at 81 percent. The second most popular motivation for joining the event was climate change (73 percent, versus 93 percent reported by participants at the 2017 March for Science).
In addition to the usual battery of questions I have been asking participants of demonstrations for years, we recently began asking protest participants an adapted version of a question from the American Values Survey to gauge their perspectives on political violence.
The results from this recent demonstration are chilling and show a clear trend: more than one third of participants at the Stand Up for Science Rally in Washington, D.C. (35 percent) reported that they believed that “because things have gotten so far off track, Americans may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.” This percentage is slightly higher than the 33 percent reporting support for political violence when we surveyed at the People’s March two days before Trump’s second inauguration in January. Also notable: in the roughly seven weeks since the People’s March, the percentage of left-leaning Americans who are participating in peaceful protest and who report they will not support political violence has dropped significantly.
A chart, below, includes our findings from the recent demonstrations along with data we collected from a nationally representative sample of 1,000 Americans via YouGov on the week before the election, along with the most recent wave of the American Values Survey.
To be clear, protest participants are not representative of all Democrats or even left-leaning Americans. Nevertheless, these data clearly document that support for political violence is not found only among Republicans and Trump supporters. Left-leaning Americans participating in peaceful, legally permitted demonstrations are starting to believe that political violence will be necessary to save America.
More rallies are coming, with a huge march called for April 5 that is being coordinated by a coalition of left-leaning groups, including Indivisible, the Women’s March, and the new group 50501. The theme of the protest, as described by Indivisible, is to “stop Trump and Musk’s illegal billionaire power grab.” So far the organizers from Stand Up for Science have not joined the coalition, but there’s no question that people who care about science will be in the crowd. In fact, Indivisible’s call to action includes declaring that Trump and Musk keep their hands off personal data, cancer research, clean energy, libraries and more. We will see there if the views of those resisting Trump’s policies have hardened.
As we witness Luigi Mangione, the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, be treated like a folk hero, and social media sites flood with references to assassination, it’s important to stress the dangers to a country teetering on the verge of political violence. Research documents how political violence leads to political repression and demobilizes social movements. In other words, not only is political violence dangerous, but it can also backfire.
These unintended consequences are frightening to contemplate. While the Trump administration appears to have declared war on science and scientists, the data we collected should make us all wonder if scientists and those who support science may be getting ready to declare war right back.
This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those of Scientific American.