A Shocking Survey Threatens the Future of Democracy in the United States

A recent survey in the United States revealed the danger of a real civil war, with the tendency of the majority of Americans to own guns and their feeling that there is a threat to their livelihood, which is represented by the theory of the Great Replacement, where white Americans see immigrants are displacing the white population.

The 42-page survey, co-authored by 9 researchers from the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis, found alarming levels of distrust, aversion, lack of affiliation, and an increased propensity for violence among Americans.

This survey comes at a time when American society is in a state of deep political division, after the recent presidential elections, the storming of Congress, and the violence of the American police that generated the Black Lives Matter movement.

It also comes on the heels of mass shootings, including the killing of 10 black people last May at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, by a white gunman who wrote a script endorsing the Great Replacement Theory.

It is noteworthy that the American Civil War, which took place between 1861 and 1865, resulted in the deaths of 600,000 Americans when the southern states seceded from the Union and insisted on the continuation of legal slavery. The war ended with the surrender of the southern states, which had been affiliated with the Confederate States.

 

Second Civil War

The Daily Mail reported that a recent American survey published by the medRxiv website, which specializes in publishing scientific studies, on July 19, 2022, revealed that half of the American people expect a second civil war in the United States within the next few years.

According to the survey findings of 8,620 adults across the United States, more than two-thirds of respondents said they saw a serious threat to democracy in the country, while 50.1% agreed that a civil war would happen soon, 47.8% opposed it.

About 14% said they strongly agreed that civil war is imminent, 36% said they agreed somewhat, and nearly 90% considered it very important for the United States to remain a democracy.

The researchers said the survey findings also point to reasons for concern about the future of American democracy, with two-thirds of respondents saying there is a serious threat to democracy in the country.

In contrast, more than 40% considered having a strong leader for the country more important than having democracy and that immigrants are displacing the white population, a racist belief known as the Great Replacement Theory, according to the Daily Mail.

The survey revealed a growing tendency among Americans to resolve political differences using violence.

Nearly 20% said they strongly agree that violence may be justified to protect democracy, emphasizing that they will take up arms in the event of political tension in the coming years if the elected leaders do not do so.

Whereas more than 15% said, they strongly approve of the use of violence to save the American way of life, while 4% said they were more likely to shoot someone.

 

Conspiracy Theories

The authors of the survey concluded that the possibility of widespread violence in the United States in the near future is highly likely.

They explained these sentiments in American society as political polarization, questioning of government and democratic institutions, an increase in gun violence, as well as a wide spread of conspiracy theories.

They found that two out of five adults agreed with white nationalists' Great Replacement Theory or the idea that native-born white voters are replaced by immigrants for electoral gains.

They also found that one in five survey respondents believed the faulty QAnon conspiracy theory that American institutions were controlled by an elite group of Satanists.

Garen Wintemute, a professor of public health at the University of California who led the study, warned of rising rates of gun ownership: "The survey findings are very grim and exceed our worst expectations… However, there is still room for hope, as most participants completely rejected political violence."

"The study serves as a wake-up call for the American people to recognize and respond to the danger," Wintemute explained.

On his part, the Russian researcher, Andrey Yashlavsky, indicated in the Moskovskij Komsomolets newspaper, the willingness of many Americans to use weapons to resolve political differences in the country.

"A study conducted by Tulchin Research and the Southern Poverty Law Center, last month, found that 44% of Americans find that the United States is heading towards a second civil war," he explained.

Meanwhile, a Yahoo News-YouGov poll also revealed, last week, growing calls for the disintegration of the United States.

A third of former President Donald Trump's Republican supporters said they would be better off if their states seceded and became independent.

According to a report published by Science magazine, homicides in the United States rose by nearly 43 percent between 2010 and 2020, and arms sales rose during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is noteworthy that the results of these studies and surveys come at a time when the House Select Committee to investigate the rebellion of January 6, 2021, is scheduled to issue its report on the reasons for the attack on the Capitol, including the possibility of recommending any charges against the individuals involved, later this year.

 

Political Violence

According to a report published by the Brookings Institution on January 04, 2022, disagreements over who is truly American are part of a broader divide in American culture.

"70% of Republicans believe that U.S. culture and way of life have changed for the worse since the 1950s, while 63% of Democrats think they have changed for the better," according to the report.

"A strong majority of Republicans agree that things have changed so much that they feel alienated in their own country, the United States today is in danger of losing its culture and identity, and the American way of life needs protection from foreign influences; while the majority of Democrats reject these proposals," the report added.

Nearly 70% of American adults agreed, with very similar results for the two dominant parties in American politics—the Democratic Party and the Republican Party—that American democracy only serves the interests of the rich and powerful.

On the other hand, the accuracy of opinion polls showing high levels of American public support for political violence has been questioned.

In an article published on July 15, 2022, Rachel Kleinfeld, a political violence expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, argued that civil war in the United States is not imminent, pointing out at the same time that the danger of a political camp resorting to violence in pursuit of power is real.

"Instead of worrying about a civil war, Americans should be concerned about a party faction using government and private violence as two pincers to muzzle dissent, gain power, and buttress their control," she wrote.