As Americans prepare to celebrate our nation’s founding in a few days, the country is more divided than ever, with a recent poll revealing troubling signs of dissatisfaction and unrest — including a stunning number across partisan lines who believe it may “soon be necessary to take up arms” against the government.

The online poll was conducted for The University of Chicago Institute of Politics by Republican pollsters Neil Newhouse and Joel Benenson with a sample size of 1,000 registered voters across the United States during the period of May 19-23, 2022. The margin of error was +/- 3.53%, and the following demographic criteria were considered:

Quotas were set for gender, region, age, ethnicity, and education. Modest weighting was also applied to these same variables upon completion of interviewing based on demographic information available from the Census. Modest weighting was also applied by 2020 Presidential vote to match the national election results.

The poll, according to a summary memo, was intended to “probe polarization and its relationship to the news sources upon which Americans rely in a fractionated media environment,” and Newhouse and Berenson wrote that the results showed “not only the growing divides we have witnessed in recent years but strong sentiments that the majority of media outlets contribute to these divisions by intentionally misleading their audiences to promote a political point of view.”

Key findings included 56% of Americans agreeing that the government is “corrupt and rigged against me” and 49% saying they “more and more feel like a stranger in my own country.” The partisan breakdown showed about two-thirds of Republicans and Independents saying government was corrupt and rigged against them, with Democrats more evenly split on that question, and 69% of strong Republicans and 38% of strong Democrats feeling like strangers in their own country.

Most Americans (56%) agreed they “generally trust elections to be conducted fairly and counted accurately,” but that result is an average of substantially different views: 78% of Democrats trust elections, 51% of Independents, and only 33% of Republicans. Among those who voted for former President Donald Trump, the number falls slightly to 31% who trust elections.

And then there’s the results for the really disturbing question: do you agree “It may be necessary at some point soon for citizens to take up arms against the government”? Overall, 28% of voters agreed, 59% disagreed, and 12% weren’t sure. The results once again showed higher numbers among Republicans (36%) but not as lopsided as previous questions, with 35% of Independents and 20% of Democrats agreeing. Among Americans who have guns in their homes, 37% agreed.

CNN anchor John King interviewed Newhouse and Benenson about the poll on Friday’s episode of Inside Politics, and commented that the “entire number is alarming” regarding the number of Americans who say it may be necessary to take up arms against their own government.

“These are stunning results,” Newhouse agreed, saying that when he and Benenson formulated the poll questionnaire, “we knew the mood of the country was not positive, but it is so much worse than we thought it was.”

Regarding the question about taking up arms against the government, Newhouse noted that 45% of strong Republicans agreed with that question, but so did 33% of NPR listeners and 26% of liberal gun owners.

“It really demonstrates the extraordinary polarization in the country right now, and there’s a pandemic of mistrust between Americans and their government and their media,” said Newhouse.

It was “sobering” and “very tough data,” he continued, and “may have to get worse before it gets better.”

“Democrats don’t trust Republicans,” he said. “Republicans don’t trust Democrats. Democrats think Republicans are getting disinformation. Republicans think the same thing about Democrats. There is no middle ground here whatsoever.”

Benenson remarked about how the “fractionalized media environment” let people “find and seek out media outlets, major ones, that they agree with,” so that the country was “not having common conversations,” and “an increasing number of people” were now getting their news on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok, with social media feeds that were “not filtered or fact checked.”

“We’re in a treacherous area for democracy,” he opined, “and with a cherished First Amendment which we have to be mindful and respectful of, I think we have to also think, from the media side, how can we do a better job to not partisanize the news as much as we have been.”

Find the poll methodology here (PDF).

Watch the video above, via CNN.

The post SHOCK POLL: Nearly 3 in 10 Americans Believe It May ‘Soon Be Necessary to Take Up Arms’ Against the Government first appeared on Mediaite.

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