Nearly 1 in 3

Rasmussen poll: Nearly 1 in 3 Americans think a 'U.S. civil war likely soon'

By Alyssa Pereira

Is America headed for a second civil war? Nearly one in three voters polled by Rasmussen believe it might be, according to poll results released Wednesday.

The poll, which asked 1,000 likely voters three (somewhat alarmist) questions on June 21 and June 24, found that 31 percent of Americans believed a violent conflict of that magnitude to be imminent in the next five years. Eleven percent of respondents believed it's "very likely."

Democrats, pollsters found, were more likely to hold that opinion (37 percent) than Republicans (32 percent), while independents (26 percent) were the least likely to prophesy a new American war.

Another question posed to respondents regarded the possibility of politically-fueled physical aggression, asking, "How concerned are you that those opposed to President Trump's policies will resort to violence?"

A much larger contingent of people, 59 percent, reported being concerned that those opposed to Trump's policies — many of which are controversial — would resort to violence. However, as Rasmussen points out, that's not far off from results of a similar poll when Barack Obama was in office. In the spring of Obama's second year in office, 53 percent had a comparable concern.

One final question asked if likely voters had concerns that those who oppose the media's coverage of Trump might resort to violence. A majority of those, 53 percent, stated that they did, while 42 percent weren't worried.

Despite that, an earlier Rasmussen poll, posted Tuesday, found that 51 percent of people think Trump himself is to blame for his "bad relationship with the press."

It should be noted that Rasmussen is said to have a conservative bias, with Five Thirty Eight giving it a grade of C+ and a simple average error score of 5.3 after analyzing 711 polls.