'Assassination culture' is on the rise, especially among women, study warns
"Assassination culture," or public tolerance of politically motivated violence, is increasing in the United States after a year of alarming bloodshed, according to a new national survey — especially among women.
Researchers also said they found that high usage of social media and growing pessimism about the country’s future may be eroding basic civility.
"I thought we'd be seeing a bunch of guys who were unemployed who'd be endorsing this," said Joel Finkelstein, director of the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), which studies emerging threats to national security, civics and American youth online.
The NCRI has been studying the topic of assassination culture since before the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who shared an earlier report by the group warning of the rise of the phenomenon months before his own death, in the wake of two failed attacks on President Donald Trump.
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"As the survivor of two assassination attempts — and recently watching his dear friend Charlie be assassinated — no one understands the dangers of political violence more than President Trump," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital. "That’s why, following Charlie’s assassination, President Trump delivered powerful and unifying remarks urging all Americans to ‘commit themselves to the American values for which Charlie Kirk lived and died. The values of free speech, citizenship, the rule of law, and the patriotic devotion and love of God.’"
The message seemingly failed to resonate with an alarming portion of the country. Finkelstein said the research found three surprising things in common with people most likely to condone political violence.
"I thought we were looking for unemployed men and young men, and that's not what we're seeing," Finkelstein told Fox News Digital.
They spend a lot of time on social media. They believe the United States is "an empire in decline." And they are more likely to be female.
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"We see these lurid images of Luigi Mangione that have been packaged into some kind of sexual symbol," Finkelstein said. "And I think that we may be seeing some downstream effects of that on people who use social media a lot, on females."
Later, he added, "It's like Che Guevara."
Mangione is accused of assassinating UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024. He has pleaded not guilty and has not yet gone to trial.
Thompson's murder came after two failed attempts on President Donald Trump. Months later, Kirk suffered a fatal gunshot wound during a speaking event in Utah.
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While the study found support for the violence was higher among women, the suspect in each of those cases was male.
"In general, violence is down...especially murders," Finkelstein said. "They're down, but what's really interesting is that political violence is up."
Researchers asked more than 1,000 respondents nationwide on a scale of zero to six about two high-profile political figures, Trump and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The study looked into tolerance for violence, not intent to commit it.
For questions about the justification of political violence, a score of zero meant that the participant considered the political violence completely unjustified. Anything higher than zero meant the respondent believed there was at least some justification. A score of six meant the respondent thought political violence was "completely justified."
According to NCRI, 67% of left-of-center respondents saw murder as justified, compared to 54% on the right. A year ago, left-of-center support was 56%. Women overall were about 15% more likely to support assassination culture, 14.8% for Trump and 21.2% for Mamdani.
While support for assassination culture is on the rise on both sides of the political spectrum and across both genders, the study found it is especially pronounced on the left, and among women of any ideology.
"It's still more pronounced on the left in our data," Finkelstein told Fox News Digital. "That's really clear, but it's growing on the right."
Older respondents across the board were less likely to condone political assassination. The group least likely to approve of it is conservative males. The most likely, by about 75%, are liberal women, Finkelstein said.
In response to the survey results, the White House called for an end to violent rhetoric, particularly in how the far-left talks about conservatives.
"President Trump, and the entire Administration, will not hesitate to speak the truth — for years, radical leftists have slandered their political opponents as Nazis and Fascists, inspiring left-wing violence," Jackson said. "It must end."
Mamdani's office did not respond to a request for comment on the study.
Finkelstein said that those who expressed tolerance for violence against one's political opponents were also more likely to accept political violence against their own side.
"It's a spiritual crisis about the belief in democracy," Finkelstein said.
He warned that culturally, young people may be spending too much time on social media, leading to dangerous results.
"Taken together, I think that the findings suggest that this is a moral, this is a spiritual crisis — it's not a partisan one," he added. "And we need to treat it that way. That means we need people coming together to talk about the fissures that are showing up in our national family."