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

Ryan Striker, a 34-year-old music teacher in Manchester, New Hampshire, says he worries about political violence because it can snowball. He is liberal but politically independent, and he opposes President Donald Trump. His concern is one of many captured in a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which finds that Americans are uneasy about political violence, but not evenly so. Age and party shape how much.

The poll arrives after a year marked by killings. 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 upon Minnesota elected officials and their families. In September, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot dead while addressing an audience on the campus of Utah Valley University, which authorities also called an act of political violence.

Overall, 44% of U.S. adults say they are extremely or very concerned about political violence aimed at conservative figures or organizations. For violence aimed at liberal figures and groups, the share is 41%. The generational split is wide. About half of adults 60 and older are highly concerned about violence against either side, compared with about 3 in 10 adults under 30.

Tony DiGiovine, a 74-year-old Phoenix musician, retired electrical engineer and Democrat, put his worry in historical terms. He remembers Kent State, where the National Guard shot and killed unarmed students protesting the Vietnam War in 1970. The Guard, he said, is not trained to patrol American streets, and neither are the armed forces. In his words, something is going to go wrong.

A similar age pattern shows up on free speech for liberals and conservatives. Around 4 in 10 adults overall are highly concerned about threats to either group's speech. Among those 60 and older, about half are highly concerned about threats to conservatives' speech, while about a quarter of those under 30 say so. The gap is smaller, though still substantial, for liberals.

Yet when asked about fundamental rights directly, young and old agree on one thing. About half of adults see a major threat to freedom of speech, and there is no age divide on that. The finding suggests younger adults do think speech is threatened but are less personally worried about what it means for liberals or conservatives. About 4 in 10 see a major threat to freedom of the press, and about 3 in 10 say so for the right to vote and the right to keep and bear arms. On voting, age matters again: about 2 in 10 under 30 see a major threat, against about 4 in 10 of those 60 and older. Craig Tenhoff, a 58-year-old independent from Simi Valley, California, said it is concerning that people seem to be reaching a point of no longer talking or compromising and of vilifying opponents.

Party is the other great divider. About 6 in 10 Republicans are highly concerned about violence against conservatives, but only 27% say the same about violence against liberals. About 6 in 10 Democrats are highly concerned about violence against liberals, while 38% are about violence against conservatives. The effect is stronger at the ideological poles: conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats are much likelier than moderates in their coalitions to worry about their own side. About a quarter of independents are highly concerned about violence in either direction.

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 are not doing well, and so more extreme avenues of action can suddenly seem like a better option.

Party also divides perceptions of rights. About two-thirds of Democrats say free speech and freedom of the press face a major threat, compared with about 3 in 10 Republicans for speech and about 2 in 10 for the press. Jeff Milligan, a 72-year-old Republican from Logan, Ohio, who worries more about violence against conservatives, used to be more concerned about threats to fundamental rights. What changed? In his words: Trump was elected.

The poll surveyed 1,289 adults from Oct. 9 to 13, using NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, designed to represent the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.