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Many Americans view political instability as the greatest threat to the United States. Democracy could “collapse” there, according to a poll released Wednesday. It confirms the deep division in the country a year after supporters of former President Trump stormed the Capitol.
According to a survey by the University of Quinnipiac, 76 percent of those polled believe that political instability poses the greatest threat to the country, compared to just 19 percent who fear nations hostile to the US.
Most concerned are militants or sympathizers of the Democrats (83 pc against 66 pc among Republicans) and 18- to 34-year-olds (80 pc).
Furthermore, 58 percent of those polled fear a “collapse” of democracy, compared with 37 percent who believe that democracy is strong enough to overcome the deep divisions in American society.
Democrat Joe Biden, who pledged on January 20 last year to “reconcile” the country after Donald Trump’s term in office, appears to have failed: 53 percent of Americans believe the divisions will worsen in the coming years, relative to only 13 percent predict an improvement.
The poll, taken of 1,313 American adults between January 7 and 10 (with a margin of error of 2.7 percentage points), confirms other recent polls.
Two-thirds of Americans believed in early January that the attack on the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump was a sign of increasing political violence and that American democracy is still under threat a year after the fact, a CBS News poll showed.
However, the seriousness of the historic attack on the temple of American democracy has been minimized by 44 percent of those surveyed in the Quinnipiac poll, who say it’s “about it too often” and they want to “put the attack behind them.”. In August 2021, that was still 38 percent.
The poll also shows that Biden is very unpopular right now, with just 33 percent favouring him, up from 36 percent in November. Most voters are unhappy with his handling of Covid-19, the economy and foreign policy.
49 percent of those polled think his government’s policies divide the country; 42 percent think it unites it. Representatives in Congress are also making a mess: 62 percent of Republicans and 59 percent of Democrats are judged unfavourably.
