In the age of President Donald Trump, speculation is rife not just regarding whether the president will be impeached but what would happen in an increasingly divided United States if he were removed from office.
Related: Impeaching Trump Becomes More Likely Every Time He Criticizes Republicans
Trump's longtime friend and former adviser Roger Stone, who is embroiled in investigations into whether Russia colluded with the Trump campaign, said last month that impeaching the president would lead to a "spasm of violence in this country, an insurrection, like you've never seen."
A few days later, televangelist Jim Bakker went a step further, saying outright that there would be "civil war in the United States of America."
Given the violence that's sprung up between supporters and opponents of Trump during his campaign and since he entered office, such talk, while hyperbolic, does not seem entirely baseless.
Details of a survey released Friday, though, suggest that those concerns may not be entirely warranted. Published in The Washington Post, the poll by five political scientists sought to ascertain whether supporters of Trump's impeachment or opponents of it were more motivated to take action for their chosen cause.
They found it was those who were advocating for Trump to be the first U.S. president removed from office who were more passionate. Indeed, on each of the six actions listed in the survey that respondents could choose to take in order to help impeach or keep the president in office—giving $50 to join an organization, attending a protest, withholding taxes, going on a general strike, contacting their representative and voting based on their views on Trump—it was those who opposed the president who were more likely to act.
Sixty-one percent of Trump opponents, for example, said they would be prepared to go on a general strike in order to help end Trump's presidency, compared to 32 percent of those who wanted him to remain in office. Nearly half of those wanting Trump impeached would attend a protest in order to aid that cause, compared with less than 30 percent of his supporters.
As the authors note, however, the motivation levels of Trump supporters could increase significantly if his immediate future in the White House were under threat. For the moment, that is not seen as the case.
Multiple Democrats have called for Trump's impeachment, and articles of impeachment have even been filed in the House of Representatives. However, Democratic Party leaders have thus far been reticent to talk openly of impeachment, while Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress, are ultimately in charge of the president's fate, for now.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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