A new YouGov survey finds that most Americans are feeling scared as the election nears, and most are worried about extremism. The candidates themselves are viewed as too extreme by much of the population: 40% say Harris is too extreme and 50% say Trump is. Many also feel the candidates have gotten more extreme since securing the nominations earlier this year.
75% of Americans are scared about the way things are going in the world today, including 31% who are very scared. This marks an increase from September 2016, when 71% of Americans were scared about how things were going, including 21% who were very scared.
Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say they’re very scared about how things are going in the world today (35% vs. 24%). This was also the case in September 2016, when 29% of Republicans and 13% of Democrats were very scared about how things were going in the world.
Most Americans (89%) are very or somewhat concerned about at least one form of extremism of six asked about; 20% are concerned about all six.
63% of Americans are very or somewhat concerned about Muslim extremism, including 55% of Democrats and 77% of Republicans. A similar number of Americans (63%) are concerned about white-supremacist extremism, including 85% of Democrats and 44% of Republicans.
Majorities of Americans are concerned about right-wing extremism (58%), racial-minority extremism (58%), and left-wing extremism (57%). Half (50%) are concerned about Christian extremism.
22% of Americans believe that right-wing extremists have committed the greatest number of violent attacks in the U.S. since Sept. 11. 41% of Democrats and 6% of Republicans believe this.
20% think lone wolves who aren’t affiliated with any group have perpetuated the greatest number of violent attacks, 15% think Islamic extremists have, and 13% think left-wing extremists have. One-quarter (25%) of Republicans think left-wing extremists have committed the greatest number of violent attacks in the U.S. since Sept. 11; only 3% of Democrats agree.
40% of Americans — including 6% of Democrats and 75% of Republicans — think Kamala Harris is too extreme. 46% — including 85% of Democrats and 13% of Republicans — say she is not.
Half (50%) of Americans say Donald Trump is too extreme. 85% of Democrats and 13% of Republicans hold this view. This marks a decrease from September 2016, when 57% of Americans — including 88% of Democrats and 27% of Republicans — believed Trump was too extreme. The decrease is particularly sharp among Republicans.
About one-third (32%) of Americans think Harris has gotten more extreme since she won the Democratic nomination this year, 9% think she has gotten less extreme, and 47% think she’s stayed about the same.9% of Democrats, 28% of Independents, and 61% of Republicans think she’s gotten more extreme.
Slightly more (39%) Americans think Donald Trump has gotten more extreme since he won the Republican nomination this year. 7% say he’s gotten less extreme, and 42% think he’s stayed about the same. In September 2016, fewer (30%) Americans perceived Trump as having gotten more extreme since securing the nomination, and nearly as many (27%) said he’d gotten less extreme. 40% of Republicans at the time said he had gotten less extreme since securing the nomination, compared to 11% this year.
— Taylor Orth and Carl Bialik contributed to this article
Related:
- Democrats and Republicans are more enthusiastic about their candidates winning than in 2016 or 2020
- Americans are increasingly concerned about Donald Trump’s age and fitness for office
- Harris vs. Trump on the issues: Whose policies do voters prefer?
See the results for this YouGov poll
Methodology: This YouGov poll was conducted online on October 17 - 19, 2024 among 1,113 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty (Westend61)
