A new report from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) found that 55% of Americans identifying as left-of-center believe assassinating President Donald Trump can be “somewhat” justified.
“Political violence targeting Donald Trump and Elon Musk is becoming increasingly normalized. Following the July 13, 2024 attempted assassination of President Trump, tolerance — and even advocacy — for political violence appears to have surged, especially among politically left-leaning segments of the population,” the NCRI wrote, adding that “younger, highly online, and ideologically left-aligned” individuals are more likely to report “justification for lethal violence – including assassination.”
An overarching “assassination culture” is also “emerging within segments of the U.S. public on the extreme left.”
NCRI wrote that its survey results of 1,264 U.S. residents revealed “troubling” trends. “Over half of those who self-identified as left of center (55.2%) reported that if someone murdered Donald Trump, they would be at least somewhat justified,” the report said, noting that 13% of respondents said murder would be “completely justified.”
Noting that those who support assassinations are also likely to support Luigi Mangione’s killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the organization wrote that such a worldview indicates that “violence is seen as a legitimate political response.”
According to NCRI, time spent on the social media platform BlueSky is a “significant predictor in justification of violence.”
Attitudes toward political assassinations “are not fringe,” the report said, but “reflect an emergent assassination culture grounded in far-left authoritarianism and increasingly normalized in digital discourse.”
In social media ecosystems, like those of BlueSky, NCRI explained, violence “is not just justified–it is stylized, gamified, and embedded within a broader ideological narrative.”
