'Bullets are flying': Divisive US political rhetoric sees violence soar

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00:00It's the second assassination attempt on a former president in less than two months.

00:05Ever since the first, nominees have been addressing outdoor crowds from behind bulletproof screens

00:10– a sign that those seeking political office are now putting their life on the line.

00:16Most of the US's most senior elected officials have come out condemning the violence, including

00:20the president himself.

00:21Let me just say, there is no, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, those of you

00:26who know me, many of you do, no place in political violence, for political violence in America.

00:32None.

00:33Zero.

00:34Never.

00:35I've always condemned political violence, I always will in America.

00:39In America we resolve our differences peacefully at the ballot box, not at the end of a gun.

00:45But it doesn't reflect a growing reality where violent rhetoric circulates freely online,

00:50local officials receive threats or political disagreements turn deadly.

00:54The last few years have seen a succession of political attacks.

00:58House Majority Leader Steve Scalise was shot in 2017, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer

01:03was almost kidnapped in 2020 and Paul Pelosi was brutally attacked in his home in 2022.

01:11Threats against lawmakers have grown tenfold since 2016 and that trend crystallised on

01:16January 6th of 2021 when a mob of protesters attacked the US Capitol.

01:22Approval for that assault has now risen among Republicans in the past three years from 21%

01:28to 30% while those strongly disapproving has dropped by almost 20 points.

01:34A poll conducted this year showed one in five Americans thought it was okay to resort to

01:39violence if it would get the country back on track.

01:43For the past few years political scientists have been looking for the root causes.

01:47A lot of their findings revolve around personality traits like aggressiveness and conditions

01:51like depression, combined with intense partisan identity and an increasingly polarised political

01:57landscape.

01:58Gun ownership also played a role with an April study finding almost half of assault-type

02:03rifle owners said political violence could be justified.

02:08Republicans and Democrats increasingly view one another as a threat and in a country where

02:12guns outnumber citizens, violence often turns deadly.

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