Younger Americans Less Worried About Political Violence and Free Speech Threats, AP-NORC Poll Finds

Tony DiGiovine, a 74-year-old retired electrical engineer and musician in Phoenix, says he remembers Kent State. He was around then. In 1970, the National Guard shot and killed unarmed students protesting the Vietnam War there, and he has not forgotten it. Today he worries that troops and armed forces aren't trained to patrol American streets. "Something's going to go wrong," he told pollsters. He is a Democrat, and he belongs to the age group most anxious about where the country is headed.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows how much that anxiety depends on age. It was conducted against the backdrop of two killings this year. In June, Minnesota state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot to death in their home, and state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were wounded. The Justice Department described the attack as the shooter's calculated plan to inflict fear and violence on Minnesota elected officials and their families. In September, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot dead while speaking to an audience on the campus of Utah Valley University, which authorities also called political violence.

Overall, 44% of U.S. adults are extremely or very concerned about political violence aimed at conservative figures or organizations, and 41% say the same about violence aimed at liberal ones. The generational gap is large. About half of adults 60 and older are highly concerned about violence against either side, compared with about 3 in 10 adults under 30. A similar pattern holds for free speech. About half of those 60 and older are highly concerned about threats to conservatives' free speech, against roughly a quarter of those under 30, and the gap is smaller but still substantial for liberals.

On which fundamental rights are under threat, the poll found about half of adults see a major threat to freedom of speech and about 4 in 10 say so about freedom of the press. About 3 in 10 see significant threats to the right to vote and the right to keep and bear arms. On speech, there was no age divide. The pollsters read that as a sign that younger adults do think speech is threatened, but are less personally concerned than older adults about how it affects liberals or conservatives. On voting, the gap returns: only about 2 in 10 adults under 30 see a major threat, compared with about 4 in 10 of those 60 and older.

Party matters as much as age. About 6 in 10 Republicans are highly concerned about violence against conservative figures or groups, but only 27% feel that way about violence against liberal ones. About 6 in 10 Democrats are highly concerned about violence against liberals, while 38% are about violence against conservatives. The pattern is sharper at the ends of the spectrum, where conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats are much likelier than moderates in their parties to worry about their own side. About a quarter of independents are highly concerned about violence in either direction.

The partisan split on rights is just as wide. About two-thirds of Democrats say freedom of speech and freedom of the press face a major threat. Only about 3 in 10 Republicans say that of speech, and about 2 in 10 of the press. Jeff Milligan, a 72-year-old Republican from Logan, Ohio, is more concerned about violence against conservatives than against liberals. He used to worry more about threats to fundamental rights than he does now. Asked what changed, he answered: "President Trump was elected."

Others voiced worry in different terms. Ryan Striker, a 34-year-old music teacher in Manchester, New Hampshire, who is liberal, politically independent and opposes Trump, said political violence can have a snowball effect. Craig Tenhoff, a 58-year-old independent from Simi Valley, California, said it is concerning that people seem to be reaching the point of no longer talking or compromising and of vilifying opponents. Max Anderson, a 23-year-old liberal-leaning independent and college student in Fort Collins, Colorado, worries about violence from across the spectrum. He said many people his age aren't doing well, and that more extreme avenues of action can start to feel like a better option.

The poll surveyed 1,289 adults from Oct. 9 to 13, drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points for adults overall. The pattern to watch is that each party's worry is concentrated on its own side.