Four in five Americans fear nation spiraling into chaos, new poll finds

About four in five Americans believe that the country is spiraling into chaos, according to a two-day poll. 

The poll by Ipsos for Reuters was conducted after the assassination attempt on former President Trump at his rally in Pennsylvania and after Trump announced Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, as his vice presidential running mate at the start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Monday. 

About 80% of respondents agreed with the statement that ‘the country is spiraling out of control.’ 

The poll found 86% of Americans are concerned about acts of violence throwing the country into chaos, while 56% are very concerned. According to the survey of 1,202 general population adults aged 18 or older in the United States, 57% said they are very concerned, and 87% said they are totally concerned that Americans will resort to violence instead of coming together peacefully to solve disagreements. 

The poll, conducted online, sampled 1,202 adults, including registered voters – 402 Democrats, 361 Republicans and 331 Independents.

The poll found 84% of voters surveyed said they were concerned that extremists will commit acts of violence after the election. That marked a significant uptick from the 74% of voters who expressed that fear in the Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in May. 

About 67% of Americans said they feared acts of violence against their community because of their political beliefs. That rose from the 60% of respondents who said the same in a Reuters/Ipsos poll from June 2023.

About one in three respondents said they believed Trump was favored by divine providence after surviving the assassination attempt on Saturday. 

According to the survey, 43% of registered voters said they preferred Trump, the Republican candidate, while 41% said they preferred President Biden, the Democratic incumbent, but the results fell between the poll’s three percentage point margin of error. The poll found 69% of Americans view Biden as too old to work in government, compared to 49% who see Trump as too old.