On September 15, local time, Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump was assassinated while playing golf at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. This was the second time he encountered such an incident this year. The Desert News, an American media website, published an article on the 17th, commenting that there is a problem of political violence in the United States. Trump's second assassination attempt is not only the latest example, but also reflects the uneasy signs of violence in the American political system.

                                                                                                                                                 Screenshot of commentary article on the website of Deseret News, a Utah media outlet

The article points out that although the assassination attempt ended in failure, it cannot ignore this disturbing trend, and it is not new in the United States. Americans who experienced the 1960s are very familiar with political violence. Although it has subsided in the years since, recent incidents have once again made people worried.

According to a report on the National Public Radio (NPR) website on the 17th, Colin Clarke, research director of the Soufan Group, a New York security consulting firm, said that there was a sense of fear among Americans before Trump's second failed assassination attempt, and this incident has exacerbated people's concerns about the worsening political violence in the United States.

The report said that the history of political violence in the United States is long, but there are multiple signs that the scope and frequency of political harassment, threats and violence are reaching new highs. Gary LaFree, a professor of criminology at the University of Maryland and former director of the START Center, a national research alliance on terrorism and response strategies at the university, said: "For several years, we did not have a single case in our database that matched terrorism that appeared in the United States in the 21st century. But then we saw this (violence) rise around 2015 and 2016."

The report further pointed out that in addition to events that meet the criteria of terrorism, the American people increasingly feel that daily political violence is also on the rise. For two years, the Bridging Divides Initiative and CivicPulse have conducted quarterly surveys of local elected officials in the United States to assess the extent of harassment, threats and violence they have experienced. The survey found that the baseline of hostility against these officials has remained at a high level.

Earlier this month, CBS News reported that threats against election workers across the country had increased in the run-up to the election.

Earlier this year, a PBS NewsHour, NPR and Marist poll found that about 20% of American adults believe violence may be necessary to get the country back on track.

The article mentioned that Ryan Cowley, Utah's election director, said at a legislative hearing earlier this year that 20 of the state's 29 county office workers have resigned since 2020, many of whom chose to leave because of the "frightening political environment." In addition, Michigan's Secretary of State also said: "We receive threats every day, whether through voicemail, email, social media, or in person."

In addition, NBC Washington recently reported that although the number of people supporting political violence in the United States has slightly decreased compared with last year, supporters of violence are now more inclined to use guns to achieve their goals. For months, experts have consistently said that support for politically motivated violence in the United States has reached a very worrying level.

                                                                                                                                                         Screenshot of the report from the NBC Washington Local Channel website

A recent survey by a team at the University of California - Davis on Americans' support for political violence found that 25% of respondents believe that violence is usually or always justified to advance political goals. While this number is slightly down from last year, it is potentially more dangerous because people who support violence are more likely to use guns to advance political goals.

Experts at American University who study the issue share these concerns, saying the most worrisome thing is that "the political environment we live in is changing dramatically and becoming increasingly violent."

Brian Hughes, deputy director of the school's Polarization and Extremism Innovation Lab , pointed out that the extremism that determines the political dialogue in the United States is getting worse and more widespread, but people have not really realized how serious things have changed. "I think it's natural for people to assume that violence will be part of our political process." He said.