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The overwhelming majority of polled ex-members of Congress fear the 2024 election will lead to violence

Dec 5, 2023, 23:26 IST
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Pro-Trump protesters gather in front of the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.Jon Cherry/Getty Images
  • Following the 2020 presidential election, pro-Trump rioters broke into the Capitol.
  • Most polled former members of Congress say they're concerned more violence will occur in 2024.
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The vast majority of recently polled former members of Congress said they fear the upcoming elections in 2024 will lead to violence.

The findings come from a newly released report from the United States Association of Former Members of Congress in collaboration with polling from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Former members of Congress polled were first elected between 1962 and 2022.

The report revealed that several years after a violent mob of pro-Trump supporters mobbed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the presidential election in favor of President Joe Biden, an overwhelming majority of ex-federal legislators are concerned a similar outcome will occur in 2024.

According to the report, 84% of ex-members of Congress said they were worried about election-related violence in 2024.

Most of the former Democratic-caucusing members — 94% — said they're "very" or "somewhat" concerned about the prospect compared to 74% of former Republican-caucusing legislators.

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The report also notes there appears to be a sizable disparity between how former Republican officials and voting-age Republicans as a whole perceive the legitimacy of the 2020 election as a whole.

While 83% of former GOP legislators said they believe Biden's victory in 2020 was "definitely" or "probably" legitimate, only 25% of polled voting-age Republicans felt similarly. Relatedly, Republican ex-members were also much more likely to agree that former President Donald Trump threatened American democracy by repeatedly claiming he won the 2020 election.

Since the attempted insurrection occurred on January 6, numerous Republican legislators have downplayed the severity of the violent riots that led to the deaths of several rioters and officers and an abundance of injuries.

Trump, along with several other of his associates, were indicted in August regarding the attempt, alleging they conspired to defraud the government and stop the 2020 election from getting certified.

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