A new poll from Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, shows that 79% of voters say the U. S. is in a political crisis, while 18% say it is not. More than a majority of Republicans say there is a political crisis in the country, with 60% saying there is a crisis while 35% of Republicans say there isn’t. Among Democratic voters, the percentages are strikingly dramatic with 93% saying there is crisis while only 6% say there isn’t. Among independents, the result was 84% saying there is a political crisis while 14% saying there isn’t.
The poll measured sentiment in the wake of the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Seventy-one percent of voters think politically motivated violence in the U. S. today is a very serious problem, 22% think it is a somewhat serious problem, 3% think it is a not so serious problem, and 1% think it is not a problem at all.
In a poll from June 26, Quinnipiac found that 54% percent thought politically motivated violence was a very serious problem, 37% thought it was a somewhat serious problem, 6% thought it was a not so serious problem, and 2% thought it was not a problem at all.
A majority of voters (54%) told the pollsters they think political violence in the U. S. will worsen over the next few years, while 27% think it will remain about the same, and 14% think it will ease.
When it comes to freedom of speech, 53% of voters said they are pessimistic that free speech will be protected while 43% are optimistic. This is a reversal from a poll six months ago, when 54% said they were optimistic and 43% said they were pessimistic about freedom of speech being protected in the U. S.
The poll found that only 38% of voters approve of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president, while 54% disapprove. Trump had a 55% disapproval rating on immigration, 53% disapproval on foreign policy, 54% disapproval on trade, 56% disapproval on the economy, 56% disapproval on his handling of Russia’s war with Ukraine, and 56% disapproval on his handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
Trump’s head of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had only a 33% approval rating versus 54% disapproval. That’s a drop of 5% in the approval rating since Quinnipiac’s June 11 poll. Fifty-seven percent said they could not have confidence in medical information cited by Kennedy. When it comes to support for schools requiring children to be vaccinated, which Kennedy does not like, 67% of those polled by Quinnipiac said they support vaccine requirements for children.
Neither major political party had especially good approval ratings in the poll. Fifty-one percent had an unfavorable opinion of the Republican Party while 54% had an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party.
The poll was conducted from Sept. 18 to Sept. 21 and had a margin of error of 3.3%.
