In recent years, incidents ranging from attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers to the attack on the U.S. Capitol have elevated concern that political violence is on the rise in the United States. That fear deepened with the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday.
For his part, after the shooting, President Joe Biden appealed to Americans, saying, “No matter how strong our convictions, we must never descend into violence.” Democracy, he said, is founded on reason, balance, decency, and dignity.
Opinion surveys have measured two seemingly contradictory beliefs about politics and violence. A PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll in April found that 20% of American adults think political violence may be a necessary means for achieving policy goals. A month earlier, however, in a survey by the Institute of Politics and Public Service, 88% of respondents believe leaders of different parties should seek compromises to lower political division.
The discrepancy may not be as sharp as those numbers indicate. Using wider samples of the population, a 2022 study by political scientists at Dartmouth, Stanford, and the University of California, Santa Barbara found that “not only is support for violence low overall, but support drops considerably as political violence becomes more severe.”
In contrast, as the National Conference of State Legislatures has noted, initiatives to cultivate civility have multiplied in recent years, improving passage rates for legislation and building public trust. Similar projects are underway in cities across the country to renew civic affections across policy divides.
Such work starts with political opponents showing more interest in each other as individuals than as stand-ins for a differing policy position. “If we reach the point where we dehumanize the people we disagree with, anything is possible,” noted Stephen Henderson, co-founder of The Civility Project, on the organization’s website. “We must step back and learn to talk to people as people, rather than political adversaries.”
Scott Shigeoka, a fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, takes that idea deeper. Seeing the individual rather than seeing a political enemy, he told the John Templeton Foundation, requires asking, “Who are the people that are important to you that made you who you are today?” That level of connecting reveals common humanity and shared values.
After the Trump rally shooting, legislators in Kentucky gathered in a joint session to reflect. State Senate President Robert Stivers encouraged his colleagues to look across the aisle. “They are your political opponent, but they are not your personal enemies,” he said.
Political aggression is often its own worst enemy because it evokes a renewal of the peaceful values of democracy.