New YouGov polling finds that about half of Americans think white nationalism poses a serious threat to the United States, and 44% believe Donald Trump personally supports white nationalism. Far fewer (6%) believe Kamala Harris supports white nationalism, though only about one-third of Americans think she’s done enough to condemn acts of violence committed by white nationalists.
29% of Americans, including 53% of Democrats and 6% of Republicans, think white nationalism poses a very serious threat to the United States. Republicans are less likely to consider white nationalism a very serious threat now than they were in October 2020, when 12% considered it to be one.
12% of Americans think white nationalism doesn’t pose a threat at all. Republicans (21%) are far more likely than Democrats (2%) to say white nationalism isn’t a threat at all.
Democrats (69%) are far more likely than Republicans (33%) to say it’s a bad thing for a politician to be a white nationalist. 10% of Democrats and 16% of Republicans say it’s a good thing; 21% of Democrats and 51% of Republicans are not sure.
Democrats (41%) also are more likely than Republicans (8%) to say it’s a bad thing for a politician to be a nationalist at all. 18% of Democrats and 40% of Republicans think it’s a good thing for politicians to be a nationalist. In April 2017, a higher percentage of Republicans (49%) said it was a good thing for a politician to be a nationalist.
53% of Americans think Harris personally opposes white nationalism. 6% think she supports it. Among Democrats, 61% believe she opposes white nationalism; 50% of Republicans agree.
Fewer Americans say Trump opposes white nationalism (14%), down slightly from 19% who held this belief in October 2020. 44% think he supports white nationalism. Among Republicans, the most common view is that Trump doesn’t have a strong opinion either way on white nationalism (37%). 22% of Republicans believe Trump opposes white nationalism, down from 32% of Republicans who held this view in October 2020. 17% of Republicans believe he supports it.
36% of Americans think Harris does enough to condemn violence by white nationalists; 28% say the same about Trump. 24% say Harris does not do enough to condemn violence by white nationalists and 47% say Trump does not.
Democrats (51%) are more likely than Republicans (27%) to say Harris does enough to condemn this behavior. 18% of Democrats and 33% of Republicans say she does not.
Most Republicans (55%) say Trump does enough to condemn violence by white nationalists, while only 7% of Democrats agree. 14% of Republicans and 79% of Democrats say Trump does not do enough.
— Taylor Orth and Carl Bialik contributed to this article
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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 (Chip Somodevilla / Staff)
