No King, and Other Matters—America’s Perspectives in Mid-2026 on Democracy, Authoritarianism, and Election-Related Violence: Findings from a Nationally Representative Survey

Garen J. Wintemute, Bradley Velasquez, Sonia Robinson, Krista Neumann, Shaina Sta Cruz, Aaron Shev, Daniel Joseph Tancredi, Elizabeth A. Tomsich, Mona A. Wright and Veronica Pear
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Daniel Joseph Tancredi: University of California, Davis

No xv3yk_v1, SocArXiv from Center for Open Science

Abstract: Background: Political violence and the rise of authoritarianism are emerging threats to the nation’s health, stability, and future as a representative democracy. To inform and facilitate prevention efforts, we present new and updated findings on the public’s views on authoritarianism and its support for and willingness to engage in election-related and pro- or anti-government violence. Methods: Findings are from Wave 5, conducted May 15-June 15, 2026, of a nationally representative annual longitudinal survey of adult members of the Ipsos KnowledgePanel that was initiated in 2022. Findings are for the cohort as a whole and for subgroups defined by political party/Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement affiliation. Year-to-year change for items included in 2025 and 2026 is estimated using mean change scores. Cross-sectional findings for 2026 are presented as weighted prevalences and item scores. Results: The completion rate was 90.7%; there were 7,552 respondents. Nearly 90% of respondents continued to consider it very or extremely important that the US remain a democracy (change 0.01, 95% CI -0.00, 0.03). Agreement with expressions of authoritarianism was much less common; it decreased for the statement, “having a strong leader for America is more important than having a democracy” (change -0.04, 95% CI -0.07, -0.02) and others. In 2026, 2.1% (95% CI 1.6%, 2.7%) of respondents agreed strongly or very strongly that President Trump should be made king, but nearly half (47.7%, 95% CI 46.2%, 49.2%) agreed strongly or very strongly that he should be impeached and removed from office. There was little agreement with 5 actions the federal government might take in 2026 that employed violence to enforce its policies or suppress its critics in the US; the prevalence of strong or very strong agreement ranged between 4.4% and 9.6%. Across 12 items, there was very little agreement with actions—including violence—the federal government might take to subvert elections; strong or very strong agreement ranged between 2% and 4%. Willingness to commit violence was rare. For example, only 1.6% (95% CI 1.2%, 2.1%) were very or completely willing to use violence “to make sure that President Trump remains in office after his term ends.” Decreases from 2025 to 2026 in support for expressions of authoritarianism and for government-initiated violence were common across the spectrum of party/MAGA movement affiliations. Conclusions: With national elections a few months away, Americans remained strongly supportive of democracy, did not endorse authoritarianism, and rejected the use of force by the current federal government to enforce its policies or subvert elections. They were deeply unwilling to engage in violence. These hopeful findings can inform and guide efforts to preserve democracy and prevent political violence.

Date: 2026-09-30
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:socarx:xv3yk_v1

DOI: 10.31235/osf.io/xv3yk_v1

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