Iowa Poll: Vast majority disagree that political violence is acceptable after an election

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The vast majority of Iowans, regardless of which party they belong to or which candidate they support, disagree that political violence is sometimes an acceptable response to an election result.

A sizable majority also say they are confident that American democracy will hold — although almost a third say they believe democracy will fail.

The results of the new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll come ahead of the 2024 presidential election, which will be a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

Biden is seeking to make the election a referendum on democracy, accusing Trump of a disregard for the Constitution and democratic norms as the former president faces criminal prosecution for attempting to overturn the 2020 election.

Trump has said “we’re not going to have a country anymore” if he loses the election.

The poll asked Iowans if they agree or disagree with the statement: “Every once in a while, political violence is an acceptable response to an election result.”

Iowans disagree by more than a 7-to-1 margin, with 86% disagreeing, 12% agreeing and 2% not sure.

Large majorities across the political spectrum say they disagree that violence is an acceptable response to an election result, including 90% of Democrats, 85% of political independents and 83% of Republicans.

The poll of 806 Iowans was conducted June 9-14 by Selzer & Co. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Mary Dunn, a 67-year-old poll respondent from Atlantic and a political independent, said she believes violence is never the answer.

“I’m Ringo, man. Peace and love,” she said, referring to the former Beatles drummer. “There’s got to be a different answer to this.”

Republican poll respondent: Jan. 6 riot ‘totally unacceptable’

The 86% who don’t believe political violence is acceptable in response to an election includes 68% who strongly disagree and another 18% who mostly disagree.

“I just think there ought to be ways to work it out,” said Dunn, who works as a city clerk. “And if not, then you need to walk away from the table and bring in someone who can.”

She said violent events such as the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the building, assaulting police officers and forcing their way inside to disrupt congressional vote certification, show that violence isn’t a solution.

“What did they accomplish?” she said. “They only made it worse. They only made themselves look ridiculous.”

The U.S. Department of Justice said as of January 2024 it had charged more than 1,265 people with crimes related to the U.S. Capitol riot. The department said about 140 police officers were assaulted during the riot.

More than 450 people were charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, including 123 who have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or seriously injuring an officer.

The Justice Department says 718 people had pleaded guilty to a variety of charges as of January 2024. Of those, 213 pleaded guilty to felonies, including 89 people who pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers.

Another 171 people have been found guilty at trial, including 76 who were found guilty of felonies for assaulting, resisting or impeding officers and/or obstructing officers during a civil disorder.

Four people in the crowd at the riot died that day, including Air Force veteran Ashli Babbit, who was shot by Capitol Police. Multiple police officers died by suicide in the days and months following the riot.

Corbin Jones, a 23-year-old poll respondent from Nevada, said he strongly disagrees with political violence. He called the Jan. 6 Capitol riot “totally unacceptable.”

“That kind of stuff can be dealt with legally,” said Jones, a Republican who is considering voting for Trump or independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for president. “I mean, as we saw when the Capitol got stormed, that doesn’t solve very much. It makes things a lot worse for a lot of people.”

12% see political violence as an acceptable response to an election

Eight percent of Iowans say they mostly agree that political violence is acceptable following an election, while just 4% say they strongly agree that violence is acceptable.

Among those who voted for Trump in the 2020 election, 15% agree political violence is acceptable compared with 83% who disagree.

Among Biden’s 2020 voters, 7% agree and 92% disagree. For those who didn’t vote in the 2020 election, 16% agree and 79% disagree.

Adam Heiden, a 43-year-old entrepreneur from Schleswig, said he strongly agrees that political violence is sometimes acceptable.

“I think we should have a revolution,” said Heiden, who plans to vote for Trump in November.

Heiden said he doesn’t believe the former president lost the 2020 election. “I just don’t have any faith in the current system.”

He said he hopes there isn’t violence around the election this year but said “we’ve got to do something.”

“That’s how the country was founded, right?” he said. “That’s how I understand it, I guess. We were tired of being taxed too much, and so we fought for our country. I’m not saying I want to do that, but at some point, we’ve got to do something.”

Marty Barclay, a 54-year-old retired poll respondent from Audubon, also said violence is “sometimes” an acceptable response to an election.

“If the elections are held fairly then no, there should be no violence,” he said. “But if it can be proven, which was proven in the 2020 election, then yes, people need to speak up and hold the government and other people accountable.”

No proof has been found that the 2020 election was rigged, with even Trump’s administration determining there was no widespread fraud that would have affected the outcome.

Trump’s campaign brought more than 60 court cases challenging the results of the 2020 election, many of them heard by Trump-appointed judges, and lost all but one.

But Barclay said “anybody with half a brain cell that actually thinks for themselves” does not believe those cases were fairly decided.

Some national polls have found greater support for political violence. A PBS Newshour/NPR/Marist national poll taken in March found 20% of U.S. adults agreed that “Americans have to resort to violence to get the country back on track,” while 79% disagreed.

A Public Religion Research Institute and Brookings Institution national poll taken in October 2023 found that 23% of Americans agreed that “because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.”

In the new Iowa Poll, 77% of respondents say the nation is on the wrong track, compared with 17% who believe it’s on the right track, and 6% who aren’t sure.

Most Iowans confident that American democracy will hold

Overall, a majority of Iowans (61%) are confident that democracy will hold, while 31% are confident it will fail.

Just 15% of Iowans describe themselves as very confident democracy will hold, while 46% say they are mostly confident it will hold.

Slightly less than a quarter of Iowans (24%) say they are mostly confident democracy will fail, and 8% are very confident it will fail.

Democrats are most likely to say they believe American democracy will hold, at 74%, compared with 20% who believe democracy will fail. Fifty-nine percent of independents say democracy will hold, while 36% say it will fail.

And 58% of Republicans say democracy will hold, compared with 34% who say it will fail.

Pat Ikan, an 80-year-old poll respondent from Solon, described herself as “a positive person” and said she’s mostly confident democracy will hold. The Democrat and retired teacher tied the issue to Trump losing the election in November.

“I think that negative thinking, I don’t have any time for it,” she said. “And that’s why I have positive thoughts that our democracy will hold, people will do the right thing and not vote for Trump.”

Jones, the Republican truck driver from Nevada, said he’s mostly confident that democracy will fail.

“The people don’t really seem to stand together as one like they used to,” he said. “It seems like everyone is against each other in some way.”

He said people are too focused on their own political parties and not the fact that “we’re all Americans at the end of the day.”

“The people need to come together and realize that we’re all in this together and we all need to fight as a country, not as individuals,” he said. “We need to unite. I mean, it’s in the name. United States of America. We need to be united.”

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

About the Iowa Poll

The Iowa Poll, conducted June 9-14, 2024, for The Des Moines Register and Mediacom by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, is based on telephone interviews with 806 Iowans ages 18 or older. Interviewers with Quantel Research contacted households with randomly selected landline and cell phone numbers supplied by Dynata. Interviews were administered in English. Responses were adjusted by age, sex and congressional district to reflect the general population based on recent American Community Survey estimates.

Questions based on the sample of 806 Iowa adults have a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. This means that if this survey were repeated using the same questions and the same methodology, 19 times out of 20, the findings would not vary from the true population value by more than plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Results based on smaller samples of respondents — such as by gender or age — have a larger margin of error.

Republishing the copyright Iowa Poll without credit and, on digital platforms, links to originating content on The Des Moines Register and Mediacom is prohibited.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Poll: Most oppose political violence, say democracy will hold