EXTREMISMClear Relationship Between Antisemitism, Political Violence and Antidemocratic Conspiracy Theories

A new national poll from the University of Chicago Project on Security and Threats (CPOST) and ADL (Anti-Defamation League) found that highly antisemitic Americans are three times more likely to support violence to achieve certain political goals compared to the general population.

The nationally representative survey of nearly 8,000 Americans, fielded by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, probed the relationship between antisemitic attitudes, support for political violence and antidemocratic conspiracy theories. The study establishes a clear relationship between antisemitism, political violence and antidemocratic conspiracy theories on both ends of the political spectrum.

Among Americans who show the strongest support for particularly hateful anti-Jewish tropes, support for the use of violence to restore Donald Trump to the presidency was three times higher than in the general population, at 15 percent versus 5 percent. Likewise, among Americans on the political left, those holding strong antisemitic attitudes were about twice as likely to support the use of force to restore the federal right to abortion, protect minority voting rights and prevent police brutality against minorities.

“There’s a dangerous nexus between the increase in antisemitism across society and the deep distrust of longstanding democratic norms, institutions and processes,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO. “This is not limited to one party or ideology – we found support for political violence both on the far left and the extreme right. Belief in antisemitic tropes and support for political violence go hand-in-hand.”

While a relatively small segment of the American public – about 10 million adults – holds both high levels of antisemitism and expresses support for political violence, the findings shed light on the role that conspiracy-fueled hatred plays in threatening American democracy. This population is also higher than the total number of Jews in the United States.

Main findings of the study include:

·  Highly antisemitic Americans are on average two times as likely to support dangerous antidemocratic conspiracies, such as those believing that white Christians are oppressed or that White people will have fewer rights than minorities in the future (i.e., the “Great Replacement”).
·  Highly antisemitic Americans are two to three times more likely to support political violence to achieve other far-right goals, such as preventing the teaching of “critical race theory,” preventing Trump’s prosecution, and preserving the rights of Whites.

·  Highly antisemitic Americans are more than twice as likely to support political violence for goals associated with the left, such as restoring the federal right to abortion, preventing police brutality, and preserving voting rights for minorities.
·  Compared to the general population, highly antisemitic Americans who accept multiple anti-Jewish tropes are three times more likely to support political violence to restore Donald Trump to the presidency.
·  Among Americans with the strongest antisemitic attitudes, support for a national divorce between Red/Republican and Blue/Democratic states is over twice that of the general population (33 percent versus 16 percent).
·  Among Americans with the strongest antisemitic attitudes, support for ignoring the U.S. Constitution is nearly three times greater than in the general population (31 percent versus 13 percent).

“Our joint CPOST/ADL report is the first to reveal concrete evidence that the toxic threats of rising antisemitism and support for political violence are not only rising in our country, but are also linked in disturbing ways,” said Dr. Robert A. Pape, founding Director of CPOST and a Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. “This means that working to prevent antisemitism and political violence are not separate challenges. The more we all work together to diminish one, also diminishes the other.”

The nationally representative survey of nearly 8,000 respondents was fielded from March 30 to May 5, 2023, using respondents randomly drawn from NORC’s AmeriSpeak panel of over 50,000 U.S. adults. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percent.