STILLWATER, Okla. — While a current or former resident being the target of multiple assassination attempts is not new to the United States, a local professor told 2 News it can lead to even worse outcomes sooner than later.
OSU political science professor Ryan DeTamble, Ph.D specializes in political attitudes and public opinion, something he said is pulling more and more Americans to the extreme.
"Things such as 25% or even a third of partisans expressing perhaps a justification or a willingness or an acceptability to the idea that violence might be necessary in order to pursue the type of America that they want to see,” DeTamble said.
Like the professor, those around campus aren't happy with political violence making headlines yet again.
"The first attempt, it was like a once in a lifetime moment. And now it’s like, (Trump) cannot catch a break," a OSU undergrad student known as Herman said Sept. 16. "Some might say he deserved it. I’m not going to go that far. It’s just, you know, he sure is the political figure of all time.”
“(Political violence) is risky for democracy," the professor said. "When we think of other points in American history where we’ve seen these types of assassination attempts, it has been at other inflection points.”
"In a politically charged campaign environment the conditions are set for something like this to be more likely to occur," he added. "And it’s sad to see in this country, certainly.”
DeTamble also sent 2 News several notes to conclude as a result of the second assassination attempt:
- Polarization has also led to this perception gap in American politics where strong partisans tend to view the other side as being more ideologically extreme than they actually are on average in reality. So how this can play out after exposure to a high profile case of political violence is that such a case may be viewed as being desired by or the responsibility of the other side. Such a perspective would seemingly make reprisals more likely.
- Large minorities of both parties see the other side as a "threat to the nations well-being" and/or "democracy".
- The current administration and former President Trump garner historically high "unfavorability" ratings in public opinion.
- Threats on many different levels of elected officials in this country have increased in recent years.
- The increase that we have seen in social media threats from private citizens against political officials is also concerning because it disperses the resources of our security services in this country.
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