A large survey of American adults shows that while the majority supports democratic values, millions of individuals hold views sympathetic to authoritarianism and the government’s use of domestic force. While the individual willingness to engage in political violence remains low among the population, these alternative political preferences are creating a social climate that may encourage democratic backsliding. The study results were published in the journal Injury Epidemiology.
Over the past decade, social scientists and policy experts have expressed growing concerns about the health of American democracy. Recent events have been marked by intense political polarization, civil unrest, and changes in federal policy for deploying military and law enforcement personnel during protests. These clear pressures raise questions about how the public views the current government structure and basic social contract.
Researchers wanted to measure public attitudes toward authoritarianism as this political transition unfolds. Authoritarianism is a political system that favors the concentration of power in strong leaders, demands unquestioning obedience to authority, and limits democratic freedoms. Assessing the public’s desire for such leadership provides a fundamental understanding of national political stability.
Galen Wintemute, an emergency medicine physician and violence prevention researcher at the University of California, Davis, led a team that investigated these public attitudes. Wintemute and his colleagues sought to map the prevalence of anti-democratic sentiment across different segments of the U.S. population. The research team hoped to provide data that could guide public safety interventions and help community leaders limit political violence. They built their study on an ongoing multi-year research project that tracked public opinion as the country’s political landscape changed.
The research team conducted a large-scale study using a nationally representative survey of 8,248 adults. The polling company Ipsos conducted the survey online from May to June 2025. Participants answered questions about their political affiliation, their views on democratic institutions, and their opinions on the federal government’s use of force against civilians. The researchers also asked participants whether they would personally engage in physical violence to advance political goals, whether supporting or opposing the government.
To measure authoritarian tendencies, the survey asked participants how much they agreed that having a strong leader is more important to America than having democracy. He also proposed a statement on whether Congress should be suspended for a few years so a strong leader can clean up the mess created by politicians in Washington. In these questions, we intentionally avoided the names of specific contemporary politicians to maintain a focus on fundamental principles.
In assessing opinions about government violence, the survey asked whether the federal government should send military or private armed militias to enforce domestic policy. Another set of questions asked whether the government should arrest people who publicly voice opposition, participate in demonstrations, or publish critical news articles. For this study, force or violence was defined as physical force strong enough to cause pain or injury to a person.
The survey results revealed that an overwhelming majority of respondents (88% of the group) think it is very or extremely important that the United States remains a democracy. A slight majority, 61 percent, felt that the country’s democracy was actively facing serious threats. More than two-thirds of survey respondents strongly or very strongly agreed that democracy is the best form of government.
Despite this widespread support for basic democratic ideals, a significant minority of the population expressed an openness to authoritarian concepts. 15% of survey respondents strongly or very strongly agreed that having strong leaders is more important than democracy. When extrapolating these rates to the entire country, the researchers estimated that about 40 million adults hold this view. Nearly 12% of respondents supported the idea of proroguing Congress, leaving the executive leadership unchecked.
The researchers also uncovered varying levels of state-sponsored support for domestic forces. Roughly one in 10 respondents fully supported the government’s use of the military to enforce policies within its borders. Just over 4% of participants strongly agreed that the government should utilize private armed militias for similar enforcement purposes. Between 5 and 7 percent of respondents felt that federal authorities should arrest civilians and journalists who openly criticize the administration.
Personal desire for physical combat remained relatively rare among the general population. Only about 2 percent of participants said they were very or completely willing to personally engage in violence to support or oppose the federal government. Similarly, approximately 2 percent expressed a willingness to use physical violence against civilians or journalists based on political viewpoints.
When researchers broke down survey responses by age and political affiliation, opinions on these topics varied markedly. Young people under 25 were less enthusiastic about democratic government than older generations. This younger group was more likely to support authoritarian rhetoric and express a personal willingness to participate in political violence.
Political identity played a pervasive role in shaping respondents’ views on democracy and government authority. The researchers compared individuals who called themselves “Make America Great Again” or “MAGA Republicans” with those who called themselves “strong Democrats.” MAGA Republicans showed lower absolute support for democratic institutions and were more likely to support authoritarian concepts. For example, 32 percent of MAGA Republicans prioritized strong leadership over democracy, while only about 7 percent of strong Democrats shared that preference.
MAGA Republicans were more likely to support the federal government’s use of the military and private militias, but were less willing to engage in personal political violence than strong Democrats. A small subgroup of respondents who identified as MAGA supporters but not Republicans reported surprisingly high levels of personal willingness to commit acts of violence. Approximately 15 to 17 percent of this particular group expressed a willingness to use force to support or oppose government action.
The research design relies on cross-sectional survey data. That is, take a single snapshot in a timely manner. Research that deals with sensitive social topics can also be affected by social desirability bias. Although people are often reluctant to admit their extreme views or violent intentions to researchers, this suggests that the true public willingness to commit political violence may be slightly higher than reported.
The researchers noted that the 2025 analysis did not include adults ages 18 to 20 because the regular study group has been maintained for several years. Given the changes in civic attitudes observed among the youngest participants available, future research should examine the political beliefs of the newest voters. The study authors plan to monitor these ideological trends so that civilian experts can develop strategies to strengthen democratic resilience.
The study, “Support for Authoritarianism and the Use of Force by and Against the Federal Government in the United States in Mid-2025: Results from a Nationally Representative Survey,” is by Garen J. Wintemute, Andrew Crawford, Elizabeth A. Tomsich, Mona A. Wright, Aaron B. Shev, Daniel J. Tancredi, Julia P. Schleimer, Veronica A. Pear, and Sonia L. Robinson.
