In this election year, which has already seen an assassination attempt and President Biden ending his bid for a second term, what are people really worried about?
“There are a significant number of people, we’ve known this for a while, who have underlying authoritarian tendencies where they want somebody who’s a strong leader,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute. “They’re not as concerned about the processes of a democratic republic as they are about somebody who can say, point blank, this is where the evil is coming from, this is what we need to do to take care of it.”
Murray said this is in large part Donald Trump’s appeal. But most did not feel the president should have the power to suspend provisions of the Constitution if they determine that significant election fraud has occurred.
“When we ask about some of the statements that he’s made about constitutional processes, getting rid of them, and going after his political enemies if he becomes president, we find that 65% overall would be bothered a lot by it but if we go to the Republican party it’s only 41%,” said Murray.
“And when we look at things that people are worried about that are going on in the country as a whole 58% feel that it’s a major problem that many people are unwilling to accept the outcomes of elections, and 50% are worried about the use of the justice system to go after political enemies,” he said.
As for political manipulation of the justice system, 77% of Republicans see this as a big problem — just 22% of Democrats.