Worry mounts over election violence – no matter who wins

A functional democracy requires free and fair elections and a peaceful transition of power. There is virtually no doubt that whoever wins the presidential election will peacefully accept the result.

There appears to be significant concern, however, if voters will accept the results.

In the new Franklin Pierce University-Boston Herald poll, more than half of all voters believe there will be violence around Election Day. A large percentage also believe that there has been an incitement of extremist violence, primarily by President Trump but also by former Vice President Joe Biden.

The poll shows that 53% of all likely voters believe there will be violence around the Nov. 3 election and 23% are unsure. That’s three-fourths of those surveyed bracing for blowback.

Those in the East have the most concern, with almost 63% saying they believe there will be violence. Men and women have almost exactly the same level of concern.

Younger, white voters are more likely to fear violence, with 62% of 18-29 year old voters and 57% of white voters expecting unrest.

Almost 60% of Republicans say they expect violence, in comparison to 53% of independents and 50% of Democrats. And those with the strongest approval ratings of President Trump are those most likely to believe violence will occur.

Some of these concerns about violence may also connect to the small but not insignificant number of people who said they may not to accept the election results. Almost 14% of those polled said that they were not prepared to accept the election results if Trump wins.

As for Trump supporters, 10% said that they would not accept the results if Biden won.

Women were twice as likely to say they would not accept a Trump win compared to men (almost 18% of women compared to almost 9% of men).

Women were slightly more likely to say that they would not accept a Biden win as well (11% to 9% of men).

And younger voters in the 18-to-29 bracket said they were significantly more likely to not accept the election results than any other age group, regardless of who won the election.

Fears of violence, fears about the candidates themselves, particularly President Trump, have incited extremist violence, and a number of people who are unprepared to accept the results encapsulate concerns about this election.

This is reflected in the 51% of likely voters who are somewhat or very worried about the future of the country. This concern, sadly, does not say a lot about the institutions of a functional democracy.

Christina Cliff is an assistant professor of political science, security studies at Franklin Pierce University.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3jD8r15