Reuters: Political violence in polarized US at its worst since 1970s

Political violence in polarized US has reached its worst since 1970s, Report informs via Reuters.

In contrast to the 1970s, much of today’s political violence is aimed at people – and most of the deadly outbursts tracked by Reuters have come from the right.

Such violence isn’t tracked in federal or local crime data. At least six universities and private research groups document the problem in databases built on news reports, court records, social media and police statements.

But their definitions of political violence differ. Some include police violence and random hate crimes. Others exclude such data. And among the relatively few institutions that track the violence, most haven’t released comprehensive data since 2020.

Many political attacks were at the community level, aimed at local politicians, activists and random bystanders, and got little public attention. Even those that proved fatal – or close to it – often caused little more than a blip on the national radar.

In all, Reuters documented 140 physical attacks and violent confrontations involving guns, knives, pepper spray, cars and fisticuffs. Some involved rival demonstrators at protests. Others were individual disputes, such as the brawl that left Shawn Popp dead last year in Florida.